Recording:

Kings of Israel Through the Ages: The Israelites did not depart from all the sins that Jeroboam committed, until the Lord removed them from His presence. The kings of Israel through the ages were deeply infatuated with Jeroboam's ideology. Even though God had sent mighty prophets to warn and discipline them, they remained in deception. Ultimately, the kingdom of Israel headed towards destruction, not because of Assyria's strength, but because they had offended the Lord.

Questions for Reflection:

What did the entire nation of Israel do that offended God?

Faced with these sins, what discipline did God implement? How did they respond to such discipline?

What kind of behavior is it to set up idols and worship the Lord at the same time?

How can we live out our devotion to God in our daily lives?

Single-minded Love for God Gives the Ability to Solve Problems

This chapter records the reason for the demise of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In this generation, there are too few churches that single-mindedly follow God, and there are more and more churches that follow the customs of this world. Many people often talk about Jesus, but they do not believe in Him from the heart. The most obvious sign is that these people's faith has no power and cannot solve the problems in their lives! Originally, the God we believe in is the God who solves all the problems in our lives, but today He has become powerless. The reason is that our faith is not single-minded. Although the author was writing about the reason for the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the reason for the demise of the church today is the same, that is, it cannot single-mindedly rely on God!

After reading this chapter, we will find something very surprising: a nation that believes in the true God and has God's promise, they have the commandments, laws, and decrees given by God on Mount Sinai, exceeding any nation in the world, but they do not carefully observe and follow them, but instead follow the customs of the world. Isn't this surprising? Why is this so? Because there are too few single-minded people in the world! If a person wants to get benefits from God on the one hand, but also covets the benefits of the world on the other hand, he will end up with nothing. For a country, the result is national subjugation, the death of the people, and the extinction of the race. The people can only end up fleeing everywhere.

Next, let’s take a specific look at the reasons for the fall of Israel.

No Matter What, Do Not Offend God

We must know that the identity of a Christian is very special! As a Christian, basically no one can curse you, and no one can harm you with any magic. Balaam once said: Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel (See Numbers 23:23)! What a noble identity this is! But the Israelites have a very serious weakness, that is, they easily offend God! We must know that no matter what, do not offend God: although no one can harm you, if you are trapped in sin and offend God, God will deal with you.

When God deals with you, you must quickly wake up, confess your sins, repent, and forsake your sins, so that your mind and thoughts are always in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has clearly revealed in Deuteronomy what kind of God He is: Our God is a jealous God (See Deuteronomy 6:15). We cannot serve the Lord God and serve anything else at the same time. If we can love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, I can guarantee one thing, that you will not lack anything in your life, and all the good things are in Him! Therefore, the Bible says: My goodness extends not to you (Psalm 16:2); the young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10). But if we sin and offend God, we should not complain that God cannot supply all our needs.

Our good things are really not outside of the Lord Jesus, and we should not look for them outside. Therefore, David was a very powerful person who single-mindedly followed God, and as a result, he established the most powerful dynasty in the history of Israel! If you are a person who single-mindedly follows God, you will achieve the most powerful era in your family history! When you believe in the Lord, the Lord is everything to you, He is the ruler of all things in heaven and earth! If you establish a single, loyal relationship with Him, you will certainly not lack anything.

The Customs of This World Tempt People to Sin

What is the evil thing that tempts people to offend God? It is the customs of this world (See 2 Kings 17:8). The devil corrupts people through the customs of this world, because he is the king who manages the customs of this world! Once you are involved in the customs of this world, you enter the kingdom of the devil. So today we must clearly distinguish what are the customs of this world!

Don't blame others if you don't single-mindedly follow God. I have told you everything I should tell you, and I also tell myself that in this life, I will love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength! I will single-mindedly follow my God! I will tell you what the Bible says about such people? It says you will receive a double blessing! Double! Caleb and Joshua entered the land of Canaan and received double the inheritance, much larger than others, so we must be especially careful!

Not Understanding God's Word Will Lead to Lack of Devotion, Fear, and Idolatry

The third reason for the fall of the nation is that the Israelites built high places and set up idols. The Israelites originally believed in the Lord God, so why did they worship idols? I have never understood it. But I think it is like this. Suppose someone says to you: You must worship this, if you don't worship it, there will be disasters in your family. If you listen and are afraid, then you are very likely to worship this idol. So this is what these Israelites experienced. They forgot the laws and decrees that the Lord God gave them, forgot the promises God gave them, and did not single-mindedly serve God. Once a person is not single-minded, he does not understand the principles of God; after he does not understand the principles, he will be afraid when he encounters things; once he is afraid, he will immediately worship idols. The basic mentality of people who worship idols is: it is better to worship more than to worship less, don't annoy these things, it doesn't matter if you worship one more god, it will be troublesome if you worship one less.

The Lord God we believe in is a jealous God and the ruler of all things in heaven and earth. In fact, you only need to believe in Him. But people do not understand His laws and decrees, because the people do not read God's word; the priests do not teach; and no one strongly promotes reading God's word.

At this time, a strong leader is very important. Nehemiah in the Bible is such a strong leader. It is clearly recorded in the Book of Nehemiah that after the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon, the walls of Jerusalem were torn down. Nehemiah returned to Israel from the kingdom of Babylon. As soon as he stood in that place, he built the city wall in only fifty-two days. It was the same group of Israelites, but because of Nehemiah's strong attitude, the whole situation was reversed.

So what do we need today? What we need is to explain God's word clearly and understandably! Today I tell you, whole-heartedly love God and wholeheartedly worship Him, and then you will know that He is the true God. You don't need to be afraid of anything else. If you are afraid of anything else, it will be troublesome. You only need to fear this only true God. For example, if a person works in a company and the boss worships idols, when it comes to the idol worship festival, the boss says: You all have to worship! If you don't worship, I will fire you! So should you work or single-mindedly love God? If you single-mindedly love God, then you will have no job; if you have no job, can single-mindedly loving God fill your stomach? With such a logic, people immediately become weak and follow the boss to worship idols. The reason is still fear. On the one hand, they are afraid of losing the benefits brought by the idol, and on the other hand, they are afraid of people!

Today I tell you, no matter what festival you encounter, tell your boss that I am a Christian. If you believe me, God will definitely be in control behind you. The person who leaves that place is not necessarily you, it may be your boss, he dare not deal with you. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel! What a noble identity we have! Don't be afraid, if you single-mindedly love God, you don't need to be afraid! Try single-mindedly loving God! There are many such testimonies among us, praise the Lord! What if you offend? Didn't you get a salary increase in the end? So there is nothing to be afraid of. Single-mindedly loving God really does not require fearing anything. Even if I am fired, I don't care!

In the days of Daniel, his three good friends were all prime ministers, like ministerial figures, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Facing the King of Babylon - a very powerful king, if you don’t worship, you will be thrown into the furnace to be burned. The furnace was burning very hot. When these three people were thrown in, as a result, the people who threw these three people were burned to death by the flames, but these three people said: O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up (Daniel 3:16).

As a result, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. In the furnace, these three people became four, and they were dancing in the furnace. The king was surprised when he saw it: How can they dance in the furnace? The people by the furnace were burned to death, but the people in the furnace were not burned? As a result, the king said: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here (Daniel 3:26)! When they came out, their hair was not singed, their clothes were not changed, and everything was intact. From then on, the King of Babylon announced to the world that the God of Israel, the Lord God, is the true God.

Do we really have such a heart? If you have the heart of Daniel and Abednego, you will definitely experience such miracles. Don't worry, everyone, we have God's laws, decrees, and commandments in our hands, what are we afraid of? We have God's promise in our lives, what are we afraid of? Many people, many Christians follow the customs of this world, buy this and buy that for themselves, prepare this and prepare that, and go to the funeral shop to buy that kind of clothes to wear. Just wear what you usually wear. Put it in the crematorium, everything will be turned into ashes, is there a need to make those things? Don't do it, because those things are almost like idolatry.

After I make this idol-worshiping mentality clear, everyone should know how to resist and how not to live in fear! It is so good for people to live in this world without fear until they leave this world! I have no fear in me, even if you want to take my life, I don’t care! Who can deal with such a person? Not only can no one deal with such a person, but even ghosts cannot deal with him, because he whole-heartedly loves God, and God will send His angels and heavenly army to camp around him. Therefore, the Bible has prepared rich promises for such people: A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you (Psalm 91:7).

Many people are preparing: if I get cancer when I am old, if I have kidney failure and need dialysis, what are they preparing for? Preparing for cancer, preparing for dialysis, dialysis costs two hundred thousand, cancer costs two hundred thousand. What are you preparing for, but you are preparing for these? Money can't stop these. But whole-heartedly loving God is guaranteed to stop it. We pray, and people with cancer can be saved from cancer, let alone those of us who don't have cancer, shouldn't we live in peace and health? You don't need to prepare those. A person who steps on two boats is very dangerous, loving God on the one hand and loving the world on the other, not pleasing either side, offending God on this side and offending the world on this side, how can you live well? That itself is fornication, idolatry, and then building high places, setting up various pillars and images under every green tree. Chapter 12 of Deuteronomy records:

These are the statutes and judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you to possess, as long as you live in the land. You shall completely destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things. But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go (Deuteronomy 12:1-5).

What kind of God is our God? It is not in a random place, or under a green tree, vaguely worshiping something, and then saying: I am worshiping the Lord God, it is not like this. Do we call coming to church to gather today serving God? What is serving God? Coming to His temple to worship Him is serving God, and then the brothers and sisters of the church must be united to worship Him. But the Israelites did not do this. God gave them laws and decrees that were clearly written, but they were afraid in their hearts. This is idolatry.

Listen to the Prophet's Admonition, Do Not Stiffen Your Necks

Fourthly, even when God sent prophets to warn them, they still stiffened their necks. God sent many prophets and seers to admonish the Israelites and the people of Judah, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, and follow the law that I commanded your ancestors and then transmitted to you through my servants the prophets. Yet they did not listen but stiffened their necks, imitating their ancestors and not believing in the Lord their God. This is unbelief. Belief and unbelief are immediately separated in this place. This is God making a selection among all nations, casting a net and collecting the good ones into vessels. Belief or unbelief determines whether you are good or bad; the key lies in belief or unbelief. Those with faith are treasures in God's eyes; those without faith are like rubbish, thrown into the furnace to burn. Therefore, we must begin to learn to be people of faith. When people of faith live out their faith, they have no fear. Without faith, they fear everything, believe in everything, but do not believe in God. Then, they stiffen their necks, and the final result is national destruction, the death of the people, and self-destruction. Christians, do not blame God for not warning you. God does not want you to fail, nor does He want your nation to be destroyed. God wants you to prosper; the thoughts God has for you are good thoughts.

However, if people ignore the warnings of the prophets repeatedly, just as I have repeatedly told everyone to love the Lord your God wholeheartedly, but you still love your work, I am truly sorry. Do not blame God, and you will not have the chance to blame God. On the day of judgment, do not say, God, why didn't you tell me sooner? Actually, He told you long ago, but you still chose to stiffen your neck. Do not stiffen your neck; soften your heart a little. Do not follow the inherent concepts in your heart, the customs of this world, or what you see in some church that is not the appearance of wholeheartedly loving God. The appearance of wholeheartedly loving God is in the Bible! Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not build the church according to the customs of the world. I once built the church according to the customs of the world, using boxed lunches and buffets to attract people, cooking several pots of stewed beef, roast chicken, and ham. After eating, some people even took food back because we had plenty left over. They took it back to the dormitory and ate it for a week or two. When they came again, their faces were covered in pimples. Not only did they look inhuman, but they also could not seek the Lord properly!

Do Not Participate in Divination and Sell Yourself

Brothers and sisters must know that no magic can harm you. Look at verse 17: Used divination and witchcraft and sold themselves. Divination and witchcraft cannot harm you, but if you engage in divination and witchcraft, you are selling yourself to the devil and the enemy. If you want to live well, do not do this! It does not matter if you do not listen; no one will force you to come. We do not need to do such things. The choice is yours. Such wonderful grace, whether to listen or not, is up to us. These are the key points: first, offending God; second, the customs of this world; third, idolatry; fourth, do not stiffen your neck when the prophet admonishes; fifth, do not participate in divination and witchcraft and sell yourself.

Israel's National Destruction Was Due to Not Being Devoted and Not Fully Obeying

This section speaks of verse 18, and then it talks about Jeroboam. God divided the nation of Israel into two, with Judah having one tribe and the other tribes belonging to Jeroboam, but they were trapped in that sin. From verse 24 to verse 33, Israel was destroyed as a nation. Do not think that God cannot act on His own, as if He cannot do anything without you. It's like saying in life, Don't think that the dish can't be made without your stinky tofu! It roughly means, Don't take yourself too seriously. God did not send anyone, but He sent lions to bite them to death. Those lions were like pre-programmed entities, going in and biting to death those who deserved to die. Therefore, God can still do things without you and me. However, we must see this and take it as a warning to learn to fear the Lord. But these people, from verse 34 to the end, can be summarized in two points: first, not being devoted; second, not fully obeying. Verse 34: To this day they still follow their former practices; they do not wholeheartedly fear the Lord, nor do they keep the regulations, decrees, laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob. If we are to keep them, we must keep all of them, not just half. What is written in the Bible, do not separate it. And we must also learn to be devoted and fear the Lord God, because the Lord God is a jealous God. Therefore, what caused Israel to be destroyed as a nation was not being devoted. And the result of not being devoted is not doing all that He wants, not doing what He says.

Do not think that this matter is far from you; in fact, it is very close. Just a slight difference in your studies or in your work can lead you away from God very quickly. Therefore, what is surprising is that the Israelites have such wonderful promises, but they cannot grasp them. In fact, we are not much stronger than the Israelites. You must know that the Israelites are the most outstanding nation in the world. We are not as good as the Israelites. If the Israelites cannot hold on, then we must be even more vigilant and careful in all things, so as not to lose God's grace.

After following the customs of this world, God, who could have saved us from the hands of all our enemies, will no longer be with us. Not only will He not be with us, but He will also make us a nation destroyed. Verse 41: These nations feared the Lord, but also served their idols. Today, if you fear and revere the Lord God, then do not set up any other idols, because that kind of Christian is of no use.

When I was preaching to this classmate of mine, he said, Old classmate, I'm starting to believe a little. I said, Praise the Lord! He said, My current wife (the one he was living with, not really a wife) is a Christian. After hearing that, I almost fell out of my seat. Then he said, She's the kind that covers her head. This is what Christians are like today. How can such Christians possibly obtain all the benefits! Of course, I was too embarrassed to expose him, but I felt very emotional inside. We must not follow their ways, and our children and grandchildren must not follow their ways either. I can boldly tell everyone that although I also have a son, I do not want to leave him anything except the heart to fear God and wholeheartedly love the Lord. If I give him that, he will receive a treasure, and he will live in God's grace all his life! Amen!

Scripture

2Ki 17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years.
2Ki 17:2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
2Ki 17:3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.
2Ki 17:4 But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
2Ki 17:5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria and besieged it three years.
2Ki 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
2Ki 17:7 And this was so, because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods
2Ki 17:8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.
2Ki 17:9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
2Ki 17:10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
2Ki 17:11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations whom the Lord carried away before them had done, provoking the Lord to anger by their evil deeds,
2Ki 17:12 and serving idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”
2Ki 17:13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you through my servants the prophets.”
2Ki 17:14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
2Ki 17:15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them.
2Ki 17:16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.
2Ki 17:17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
2Ki 17:18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.
2Ki 17:19 Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had practiced.
2Ki 17:20 And the Lord rejected all the offspring of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
2Ki 17:21 When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin.
2Ki 17:22 The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them,
2Ki 17:23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.
2Ki 17:24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
2Ki 17:25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
2Ki 17:26 So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.”
2Ki 17:27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and live there and teach them the law of the god of the land.”
2Ki 17:28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
2Ki 17:29 But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the temples of the high places that the Samaritans had made, each nation in the cities in which they lived.
2Ki 17:30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima;
2Ki 17:31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children as burnt offerings to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
2Ki 17:32 They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the temples of the high places.
2Ki 17:33 So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
2Ki 17:34 To this day they still do according to the former manner. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow their statutes or their rules or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
2Ki 17:35 The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them,
2Ki 17:36 but you shall fear the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him and to him you shall sacrifice.
2Ki 17:37 And the statutes and rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods,
2Ki 17:38 and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods,
2Ki 17:39 but you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”
2Ki 17:40 But they would not listen, but did according to their former manner.
2Ki 17:41 So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children, as their fathers did, to this day.