The Reality of Evil 1Kings 15: 25-32

INTRODUCTION:

·       Since King Solomon’s downfall chronicled in 1Kings 11, King Solomon’s heir saw the kingdom torn in two. 

·       Last time we were in 1Kings we broke down 40 years of history with the focus on Judah and Jerusalem. 

·       This week we back up and time and pick up chronologically with the end of Chapter 14 and will focus on Israel the northern kingdom. 

·       In the 8 verses of tonight’s text, we are confronted with the reality of evil. 

·       These 8 verses contain evil, sin, assassination, war, and in all of this, prophetic fulfillment.  Over the course of history, not much has changed in the hearts of man.

·       Why does God allow so much evil?  In the face of such great evil, how does God use it for good, or is this concept even possible?

·       Why these questions may weigh in our minds, one thing is undeniable, the reality of the presence of evil. 

SCENE 1: The reality of . 

TWO KINGS:

1.     King .

o   Has the same name as Aaron’s firstborn son who also had in infamous premature death.

These are the names of Aaron’s sons: Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests. But Nadab and Abihu died in the Lord’s presence when they presented unauthorized fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai, and they had no sons.  — Numbers 3:2-4 (CSB)

o   Just as King David is the measuring stick or all of Judah’s future kings, King Nadab’s father, Jeroboam, will be that same measuring stick for all the Kings of the north.

o   The pattern of evil was first observed, then carried out.  King Nadab committed evil in the LORD’s sight just like his. 

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE: The role of “father” in families, cultures, and even countries is foundational to the healthiness of those institutions.

“In short, if a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will become churchgoers (regular and irregular). If a father goes but irregularly to church, regardless of his wife’s devotion, between a half and two-thirds of their offspring will find themselves coming to church regularly or occasionally.

A non-practicing mother with a regular father will see a minimum of two-thirds of her children ending up at church. In contrast, a non-practicing father with a regular mother will see two-thirds of his children never darken the church door. If his wife is similarly negligent that figure rises to 80 percent!

The results are shocking, but they should not be surprising. They are about as politically incorrect as it is possible to be; but they simply confirm what psychologists, criminologists, educationalists, and traditional Christians know. You cannot buck the biology of the created order. Father’s influence, from the determination of a child’s sex by the implantation of his seed to the funerary rites surrounding his passing, is out of all proportion to his allotted, and severely diminished role, in Western liberal society.”  The Gospel Coalition Article, “A Father’s Role in His Children Going to Church When They Are Adults, DECEMBER 16, 2010

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/a-fathers-role-in-his-children-going-to-church-when-they-are-adults/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%201994%20study%20in%20Switzerland%2C,will%20come%20to%20church%20regularly%20or%20occasionally

See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children ​— ​and we are! — 1 John 3:1 (CSB)

Yet you are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn’t recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father; your name is Our Redeemer from Ancient Times. — Isaiah 63:16 (CSB)

(CALL TO MEN) For this reason, although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is right, I appeal to you, instead, on the basis of love. I, Paul, as an elderly man and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, appeal to you for my son, Onesimus. I became his father while I was in chains. Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me. I am sending him back to you ​— ​I am sending my very own heart. — Philemon 1:8-12 (CSB)

o   King Nadab’s reign ended prematurely with his assassination. 

2.     King .

o   Even though King Baasha was mentioned in Verse 16, we now learn how he became king; he stole it.

o   This king had no natural claim to leadership of Israel as was commonplace. 

o   He became the “upstart with no credentials”.  (John Woodhouse quote)

o   The word “conspired” was used to describe the hostile takeover indicating that others were involved in the assassination. 

o   Despite the circumstances surrounding his kingship, God uses King Baasha to fulfill prophecy.

Go tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I raised you up from among the people, appointed you ruler over my people Israel, tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you. But you were not like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what is right in my sight. You behaved more wickedly than all who were before you. In order to anger me, you have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and cast images, but you have flung me behind your back. Because of all this, I am about to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam:

I will wipe out all of Jeroboam’s males, both slave and free, in Israel; I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone!  Anyone who belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and anyone who dies in the field, the birds will eat, for the Lord has spoken! ’ — 1 Kings 14:7-11 (CSB)

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE: God has a response to evil.

1.     Evil, also known as , will always be punished.

  Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned. — Romans 5:12 (CSB)

It is clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering, since it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength on that day when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at by all those who have believed, because our testimony among you was believed.  —                  2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 (CSB)

2.     God’s perfect and stoppable will is accomplished through and despite the ongoing presence of . 

o   Genesis 50: 19-21

EMERALD CITY:

1.     Are you seeking after or seeking to be a spiritual father/mother. 

2.     If you have been on the wrong side of evil committed against you, will you let God reframe and use it?

“We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shovelling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world…” The Problem with Pain, C.S. Lewis

3.     God will make all things right.  (Revelation 22)