Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: Where We Are & How We Got Here

Why America Must Remain a Democracy

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Civil Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2002-09-22

Synopsis: John Weaver argues that America must remain a democracy because its political leaders, like Jeroboam of Israel, have created a state religion of idolatry and humanism that they cannot abandon without losing power. Using Hosea 1 and 1 Kings 12, he shows how Jeroboam leveled God, deprecated true worship, made scriptural worship difficult, changed the priesthood, and instituted a rival feast—all to secure his own kingdom. Weaver draws parallels to modern America, where civil rulers promote pluralism, suppress biblical Christianity, and maintain control through political correctness. He warns that unless God grants national repentance, destruction may be the only remedy, but encourages believers to remain faithful as God's remnant.

[John Weaver] Let's open our Bibles today, if you would please, to the book of Hosea, chapter 1. Ten years ago, I preached a series through the book of Hosea. It took me 75 messages to get through the book of Hosea. And this past week, I was preaching up in Alabama, and they asked me to deal with the book of Hosea for most of the services, and I did so. And as I did, all this came rushing back to me, and I wanted to just simply bring this message that I preached ten years ago for your consideration today, and I think it's even truer today. It was just as true back then, but I think you can see the application of it far more today. But let's begin today by looking at Hosea 1.

[John Weaver] We're going to read verses 1 and 2. But primarily, we're just simply going to deal with verse one. So that's Hosea, chapter one, verses one and two. The word of the Lord that came on Hosea, the son of Beri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land hath committed great whoredoms departing from the Lord."

[John Weaver] Now let me give you the title of the message today, and I hope that you will understand the title before I finish today. Here's the title of the message. Now listen carefully. I'm going to answer an objection just time I give you the title. Okay, here we are. The title of the message is, Why America Must Remain a Democracy.

[John Weaver] Now, you're going to say, but Brother Weaver, we have a republic. We even pledge allegiance to the United States and the republic for which it stands. And our founding fathers gave us a republic. I know that. And you know that. And most of us also know that our republic was traded for an empire under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. And our republic has basically disappeared and in its place there has developed a democracy that is mob rule. So in all practicality today, we do not have a republic. That is practically speaking.

[John Weaver] I have a cartoon on my desk at home. A pastor friend just asked me for it because he wanted it printed in his paper. And here's the man standing before the judge. The judge is looking over the desk, and the judge says, The Constitution? We don't have time for nostalgia around here. Well, you understand where I'm coming from.

[John Weaver] Now look at verse 1. The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Biri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. Now the name Hosea means helper, savior. It is the same root word from which Joshua is derived. Didn't you remember the word Joshua means savior? Now the Bible tells us that Hosea was the son of Beri. Now it may interest you to know that there is absolutely nothing further revealed to us in Scripture about Beri. All we know is that he was the father of Hosea. Now Amos and Hosea, Micah and Isaiah were contemporaries.

[John Weaver] Let me say that again. Isaiah, Micah, Amos, and Hosea were contemporaries. That is, they all preached at exactly the same time. Isaiah and Micah preached primarily to Judah. Hosea and Amos were primarily to Israel, the ten northern tribes. Now, the book of Hosea is very easily divided. In fact, it's divided into two parts. The very first part is chapters 1-3. And in those chapters, you have a symbolical and introductory prelude to the message of Hosea. Then you have chapters 4-14 outlined, and let me give you very quickly what those are.

[John Weaver] For instance, chapter 4, verse 6, through chapter 6 and verse 3. You have in these passages the magnitude of Israel's moral degradation and its just punishment.

[John Weaver] Secondly, from 6-4 to 11-12, You have the incorrigibility of the sinful nation with its obstinance, persistence in idolatry and unrighteousness. And then lastly, in chapters 12-14, you have the ripeness of Israel for punishment, notwithstanding the long-suffering and faithfulness of God.

[John Weaver] Now, remember if you would please that Hosea and Amos preached primarily to the ten northern tribes. You cannot possibly understand the book of Hosea unless you understand the mission of Hosea. And Hosea's mission was to convince the Israelites of their abominable idolatry and wickedness, denouncing their sins with the most awful and severe threatenings and fearful destructions from God Himself. So, Hosea then is out to warn Israel. Now, in order to understand the book of Hosea, we must understand what Hosea is preaching against.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look at verse 1 again, and I want you to pay close attention to it, because I'm going to ask you a question in just a moment. The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. Now let me just make a statement. Very clearly, Hosea had a lengthy ministry.

[John Weaver] Probably some 60 to 70 years. Now I do want you to remember that he was sent primarily to Israel to the ten northern tribes. Now here's my question. What stands out very strikingly and very obviously in verse 1? Look at verse 1 again. The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. Well, what stands out? Well, the word of the Lord, yes, but there's something else that should be very obvious. Say it again, Rob.

[John Weaver] Alright, but now wait a minute. Look at what is listed now. He's on the right track, but it's still not it specifically. The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. Alright, someone said it just then. If he was sent to Israel, And he was. Why did he only mention just one king of Israel, and he mentioned four kings of Judah?

[John Weaver] Now, you would not know this without studying, but I'm going to tell you this. Although he mentioned Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, there were at least six other Israelitish kings that Jeroboam ministered through their reigns. There was Zechariah, Shalom, Menahem, Pecah, Pecahiah, and Hoshea. So we've got to ask a question. Why did he mention four kings of Judah and only one king of Israel since he was sent to Israel? And why did he even mention Jeroboam the son of Joash at all? Well, let me answer the first one to begin with. First of all, Hosea lists the kings of Judah because they were the true kings. They were the true lineage of David. God did not ordain the Israelitish kings. He did not ordain the kings of Israel. The kings of Israel broke away from the house of David, and they were corrupt kings, and they forsook the true service and the true worship of the one true and living God. Now the second question, why did he mention Jeroboam the son of Joash at all?

[John Weaver] And the answer is very simply, that we may know the state of the kingdom under which he was ministering. When you study the life of Jeroboam the son of Joash, and I'm going to show you a few things, and when you study the state of the kingdom, it was one of corruption, degradation, wickedness, sin, and rebellion against God.

[John Weaver] Now another interesting thing is this. Jeroboam the son of Joash is mentioned, and he is indeed a corrupt king, but God did use him to deliver Israel militarily from the Syrians. For instance, look back in your Bibles. Hold Hosea 1. But look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings 14. 2 Kings 14. And let's begin reading there with verse 23. 2 Kings 14.

[John Weaver] And notice verse 23. And remember now this is Jeroboam the son of Joash. 2 Kings chapter 14 verse 23. In the 15th year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria and he reigned 41 years.

[John Weaver] Now look what God says. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

[John Weaver] Now let me just stop right here and tell you. Jeroboam the son of Nebat is known as Jeroboam I. Jeroboam the son of Joash is known as Jeroboam II. Okay? So we're talking about Jeroboam II now. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

[John Weaver] Now look at verse 25. He, that is, Jeroboam the son of Joash, restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath into the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet that was of Gath-Hepper." Now, I want you to note, if you would please, God delivered Israel under the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. Now skip down to verse 26,"'For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, For there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said that he would not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash." Now all the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did in his might and how he warred and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath, which belonged to Judah for Israel, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?

[John Weaver] So Jeroboam was indeed a mighty warrior. God used him to deliver Israel, militarily speaking, from the Syrians, but he was a wicked, ungodly king.

[John Weaver] Now what does the Bible say specifically about Jeroboam the son of Joash? He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

[John Weaver] Now you've got to ask yourself this question. What specifically was the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat? I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12, and let's begin reading there with verse 25. This is a very important passage. I want you to mark it because we will be coming back to this passage. 1 Kings 12, beginning with verse 25. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein. and went out from fence and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Now watch carefully. Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] Behold thy God, O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lois of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

[John Weaver] And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart. And he ordained a feast unto the children of Israel, and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense." Now, this is the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to listen very carefully. This sin is so important. God mentions it fifteen times directly. That does not count the passing illusions and the references to this sin. God speaks of this sin fifteen times Specifically. Turn over in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Kings 16. And look at verse 26. 1 Kings 16, verse 26. Here we're reading about Omri. For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities. Look in verse 31. Now we're reading about the sin of Ahab. And it came to pass that if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took the wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbel, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him. Look in chapter 22 of 1 Kings and verse 52. 1 Kings 22, verse 52. Here we're reading about Ahaziah the son of Ahab.

[John Weaver] And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." Let me just give you the listing of the other passages. 2 Kings 3, verse 3. 2 Kings 10, verse 29. 2 Kings 13, 2 and 11. 2 Kings 14, 24.

[John Weaver] 2 Kings 15, 9, 18, 24, and 28. 2 Kings 17, verse 21. 2 Kings 23, verse 15. And there's one other passage, and we'll close with that passage at the end. 2 Chronicles 13. Here are 15 specific references to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you, why does God emphasize this sin over and over in scripture. Because it was Israel's sin, and Israel's sin was idolatry. And the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was the sin of Baal worship.

[John Weaver] Now, some of you know your Bible history fairly well, and you're going to give me two objections when I say that. The first objection you're going to give me is this. Well, now, Brother Weaver, Israel worshipped the One True and the Living God. They just worshipped that One True and the Living God under the symbol of the calves. And my answer to that is this. God called it veil worship. And I'm going to show you the chapter in verse in just a moment. Then you're going to give me another objection. You're going to say, but Brother Weaver, I read my Bible and I know that one of the kings of Israel, Jehu, he wiped out Baal worship out of Israel. Well, let's go there, 2 Kings 10, and let's begin reading there with verse 24. 2 Kings 10, verse 24. It is true that Jehu did a good job in eliminating a lot of the Baal worship, You know the story. I'm going to read it for you in just a moment. But Jehu gets all of the priests of Baal into the temple of Baal.

[John Weaver] He proclaims a big sacrifice. Then he puts his soldiers around that temple. He says, if you let anybody escape, your life is for his. You go in and kill them all. Now watch. 2 Kings 10 verse 24, And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed four score men without incent. If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that let him go, his life shall be for the life of him. And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in and slay them, let none come forth. And they smoked them with the edge of the sword, and the guard and the captains cast them out, and they went to the city of the house of Baal. And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them." Watch. And they break down the image of Baal, and break down the house of Baal, and made it a drawn house unto this day.

[John Weaver] Thus, Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. You say, there isn't black and white. The Bible says he wiped Baal out of Israel. Yes, it does. It does say that, and He did eliminate the raw, outward, external worship of Baal. But read the next verse. Howbeit, from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them to wit the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. Isn't that interesting? Look, if you would please, verse 31, But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all of his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin. Now, if you will look back in your Bibles to the book of Hosea, Hosea 2, verse 8, let me show you what God is saying, because He is referring to this calf worship as bale worship. Hosea 2, verse 8, God says concerning Israel, for she did not know that I gave her corn and wine in the time thereof, and oil and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for what?

[John Weaver] For Baal. So when they were worshipping the calves, God says they were worshipping Baal. Look in verse 13. And I will visit upon her the days of Balaam, this is Hosea 2 verse 13, when she burnt incense to them, and she decked herself with earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers and forgot me, saith the Lord." So God is saying that the calf worship was nothing less than Baal worship.

[John Weaver] So what Jeroboam the son of Nebat did was this. He instituted the worship of God under the color and the cover of the two calves, which was a transgression of the covenant, but God did not call it His worship. He called it Baal worship.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back to 1 Kings 12. It's very important that you see exactly what Jeroboam did. I hope you're going to see some parallels with what is going on in our land today. But let me show you first of all what Jeroboam did. Let me show you why God Referred to this sin 15 times Specifically and God was so angry with the kings of Israel notice the first Kings chapter 12 The Bible tells us in verse 28 Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem Behold I gods o Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt Now, he made two golden calves, and by the way, I'll deal with this a little bit later, but I want you to note what the Scripture says. Whereupon the king took counsel.

[John Weaver] So this was a deliberate thing. It was purposeful. It was premeditated. It was done by design. So he makes these two calves. What is his sin? Here's the first sin. Here's the first thing that he did. He misrepresented the true and the living God by making a physical representation of God. He misrepresented the true and the living God by making a physical representation of God.

[John Weaver] Now, I don't have to go back to Exodus 20 and verse 4. You know that. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The second commandment is what? Thou shalt not make unto thee any what? Graven images. Okay, now, go in your Bibles, whole 1 Kings, if you would, chapter 12. Go in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Look at the warning that God gave to Israel when He spoke to them from Mount Sinai. Deuteronomy 4, beginning there with verse 12. Deuteronomy 4, verse 12.

[John Weaver] And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire. Now look at this warning. You heard the voice of the words, but you saw no similitude, only you heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might do them in the land whether you go over to possess it." Now look at this warning. "'Take you therefore good heed unto yourselves, for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.

[John Weaver] Lest you corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any wing found but flyeth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth, and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all the nations under the whole earth. Now did you hear what God said? God said, now look, you heard a voice. You saw no shape. You saw no form. You saw no similitude. You make sure, said God, that you don't try to put me under an image, that you don't try to make a likeness of me. Male or female, animal, creation, anything, God says, do not do that.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you one of the reasons why. Look in your Bibles to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40.

[John Weaver] Everyone knows the story about the little boy in Sunday school who was drawing a picture, and the teacher came along and said, what are you drawing a picture of, son? The little boy said, I'm drawing a picture of God. Well, the teacher said, no one knows what God looks like. He said, they will when I get through. Well, let me tell you something, folks, that is indeed the basis of idolatry.

[John Weaver] Now look what God says in Isaiah 40, beginning there in verse 18. God asked, to whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him? Now, watch, to whom then will you liken God? Do you realize God is unique? There's only one God. There's nothing else like God. So God asked, to whom then will you liken God? Now look, or what likeness will you compare unto Him?

[John Weaver] So if you're going to make a comparison, what are you going to do? Now look what he says. The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto them a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved." Now look what God says. Have you not known? Have you not heard?

[John Weaver] Have it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as curtains, and spread them out as a tent to dwell in.

[John Weaver] Now look what God says. Here you are trying to make an image of me. Here you are trying to make a likeness of me. Have you not heard? Have you not known? Have you not understood? It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth. What is God saying? God said, I created the earth. I am above my creation. I'm transcendent. If you try to make an image of me out of wood, you're going to run out of wood. I made everything on the earth. If you try to make one out of gold or silver, you're going to run out of gold and silver. I've created everything.

[John Weaver] There's nothing that you can liken me to. There's nothing that you can compare me to. Look at it, if you would please, in verse 25, same chapter. He says, to whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Lord?

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. Since God is unique, since God is the One True and the Living God, He is the Sovereign, He is the Supreme, He is the Ultimate, He is the Absolute One, there is none like God. What in the world was Jeroboam doing when he made the calves? Well, listen carefully. Through the representation of the invisible and infinite God under the visible and earthly symbol of the calves, the glory of the one true and living God was brought down within the limits of the finite, and the God of Israel was placed then on an equality with the gods of the heathen. Let me explain that. What Jeroboam did was to cut God down to size. It's called a leveling of God. He took the One True and the Living God, who is the Sovereign, who is the Supreme, and brought Him down and put Him then on the level of all the heathen, pagan gods. You see, outwardly, Israel was professing to worship one true and living God, but in reality and in practice, they were worshiping a veil.

[John Weaver] They were worshiping a figment of their own imagination. I don't want to take the time to prove this to you. I can do it. It's another sermon. And I've done it in time past. But do you know where most idolatry comes from? Now, think through this. I'm not talking about from the human heart, that is true. Let me rephrase my question. Who is it that pushes and introduces idolatry more than any other?

[John Weaver] It is the civil government. If you will study, You will find it was Solomon who introduced idolatry into the land. Here we have Jeroboam the son of Nebat introducing idolatry into the land all throughout the Bible. It is the civil rulers who are pushing idolatry upon the people.

[John Weaver] Now there's a reason for that. And I'll explain that in just a moment. But let me make a statement, and listen to this carefully. Before any civil ruler can push idolatry upon the people of God, he must first deny the supremacy and the sovereignty of God, and he must bring God down to the level of all the other gods and make Him equal to every other God.

[John Weaver] This is the impetus, dear friend, behind the New Age movement. This is the impetus behind humanism. This is why there are so many laws being passed attacking Christianity and calling us hate-mongers, because we are saying that there is only one true and living God, and that one true and living God is the Sovereign Supreme Being. Before any civil ruler can push any form of idolatry upon the people of God, he must first level God and get out of their minds that they worship the one sovereign supreme God of the universe. Before any civil ruler can push idolatry upon the people of God, he must make the Christian God on the same level as the Muslim God The Jews God? The Hindus God? The Buddhists God?

[John Weaver] You've heard them say, well, after all, there's many roads that lead to heaven. After all, they're all working for the same place. What are they doing? They're leveling God. Let me tell you something, folks. God is unique. There is none like Him. There is nothing that you can compare Him to. And I can assure you of one thing. Those who deny the absolute supremacy and sovereignty and ultimacy of God in this life, in the next one, shall certainly recognize it. They will understand that there is only one true and living God. So the very first thing Jeroboam did was he made these cats. And in doing so, he was leveling God and bringing God down to the level of all the other pagan gods.

[John Weaver] Now, go back in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12. Let me show you the second thing that Jeroboam did. 2 Kings 12. Look in verse 28 again. He says, Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, Now you will like this. It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, thy God is Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

[John Weaver] And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan." That's like saying, it's too much trouble to drive away cross. Just, you know, any of these churches will do. Why, after all, we're all worshiping the same God, aren't we?

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you The second thing Jeroboam was doing. Jeroboam was deprecating the true place of worship. He not only made images of the sovereign God and leveled God, the second thing he did, he deprecated the true place of worship. He said, it's too much for you to go to Jerusalem. Don't worry about Jerusalem. Who ordained Jerusalem? It was God. Who put the tabernacle in Jerusalem? God did. Who put the temple in Jerusalem? God did. And here Jeroboam, the king, is saying, look, my choice is as good as God's. You don't have to go to Jerusalem. Dan and Bethel are just as good as Jerusalem. Worship there. Now, have you ever heard this saying, you don't have to go to church to worship God?

[John Weaver] Well, of course you have. Now let me explain something to you. That's true and it's not true. Is it true that I may worship God out in the forest and in the fields? Yes. I may worship Him through the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word by the power of the Spirit wherever I am. But does my outward external worship depreciate the value of public worship? And the answer is no.

[John Weaver] Now let me tell you. I'll show you this. And it's vitally important. If you were in the Old Testament, and you wanted to worship the One True and the Living God publicly, where must you go to do so? Jerusalem, to the tabernacle, or to the temple? You had to go there. You could not worship Him publicly anywhere else, because the altar was there. His priesthood was there. The sacrifices were there. Here are two words for temple.

[John Weaver] There's the heron and there's the naos. The heron is the temple, generally speaking. It's the whole thing. The naos refers to the holy of holies. Okay? Now, help me out. In the tabernacle and in the temple, the people could come into the common court. The priests went into the holy place ministering, but only the high priests went into that most holy place, the naos, once a year, and that not without the shedding of blood. When you come to 1 Corinthians 3, guess what? In 1 Corinthians 3, the Lord God says, for you are the temple of God, and guess what is used? It is the word naos. It is not heron, the general term. It is the place where God peculiarly and particularly manifests Himself. So in the Old Testament, the peculiar and the particular manifestation of God was in Jerusalem, in the tabernacle, or in the temple later on when it was built. In the New Testament, where is God's peculiar and particular manifestation of Himself? It's in the assembly of His public worship, in the assembly of His people.

[John Weaver] We are the naos of God, assembled together, worshiping God. Do you see that? And so God gives us a perfect picture here.

[John Weaver] Now my question is this, may I ignore the public worship of God? Where his peculiar and particular manifestation is by just saying, well, I'm out fishing day, I can worship just as good out here. Or I'm out hunting day, I can worship just as good out here. No! No! You see, the truth of the matter is this, folks. When you get to the philosophy, and this is the philosophy not only of civil government, but the philosophy of humanism. When you get to this philosophy, well, it doesn't matter where you go to church, just go.

[John Weaver] Haven't you heard it advertised? Go to the church of your choice. No, you better go to where God is particularly and peculiarly manifesting Himself, where He is worshipped publicly, where His Word is preached, where the true worship of God is. And when you say, well, it doesn't matter, synagogue, church building, temple, pagoda, it doesn't matter. Listen folks, that's what the ecumenical movement is all about. That's what the World Council of Churches and National Council of Churches is all about. Making all places of worship equal. They're not equal. They are not equal. What did Jeroboam do? He leveled the one true and the living God by cutting Him down to size, by making a physical manifestation of the invisible God. He deprecated the true place of worship.

[John Weaver] And thirdly, go back in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 12, if you haven't gone there. Verses 28 through 30. Verse 28, whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, I God so Israel who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. Now here's the third thing Jeroboam did. Listen carefully. Jeroboam made it politically, legally, and personally difficult to worship the true God scripturally, and he made it easy and politically expedient to worship his God unscripturally.

[John Weaver] Now, I'll tell you this. I'm not going to take time to go there, but if you look in the book of Amos and study the book of Amos, you remember where he put these two golden calves, one at Dan and one at Bethel? Dan was at the northern border of Israel near Syria, and Bethel was at the southern border near Judah. And what he is saying is this. You just go to whichever one is easiest for you to worship. You just go there. Now watch. I told you that he made it politically, legally, and personally difficult to worship God scripturally.

[John Weaver] How did he do that? Well, let me tell you something. And I'll show you this from the Bible in just a few moments. It was the king who made these two golden calves. It was the king who chose the places for them to sit. It was the king who ordained the feast. It was the king who ordained the altar. It was the king who made his priests.

[John Weaver] Now, if you want to insult the king, If you want to slap him in the face, you ignore his religion and trek on down to Jerusalem. Now, is that politically correct? To do something like that? Well, of course not. And when you study the book of Amos, you will find that he even sent soldiers and guarded the way, and when people tried to go down to Jerusalem to worship, they were killed. What was he doing? He was making it politically and personally difficult to worship the One True and the Living God scripturally. Oh, but you could worship any false god easily because it was sanctioned by the king. I'm going to tell you folks the official position of our judicial system and the official position of our government on freedom of religion. Here it is. You have freedom of religion in this country, which means you're free to believe whatever you want to believe between these two ears, but don't you go out and try to practice anything that you really believe without our approval.

[John Weaver] You follow me? That is exactly, exactly what Jeroboam was doing. And you try to serve God biblically. Let me tell you something, folks. You get down to the nitty-gritty, to the biblical application. You try to serve God, and I can assure you, somewhere along the line, a government agent is going to come in and say, you can't do this. You're not licensed to do this. You don't have our permit.

[John Weaver] What Jeroboam did was to make everyone politically correct. And if you were not politically correct, you were harassed, embarrassed, prosecuted, and persecuted. Now, look forward to what Jeroboam did. You'll find this in 1 Kings 12, verse 31. And he made a house of high places, that is, he made his own temple, and made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi. So the fourth thing Jeroboam did was this. Jeroboam changed the priesthood from a sovereignly selected group to a politically appointed group.

[John Weaver] Who was it that chose the Levites? It was God. Who ordained the Levites? It was God. Who called the Levites? It was God. You remember Matthew 3 and verse 13? On the calling of the disciples, the Bible says, And Jesus Christ went into a mountain, and He called unto Himself whom He would. He sovereignly selected His own twelve disciples. Now watch this. When God ordained, chose, and called the Levites, that meant then the Levites were His priests.

[John Weaver] They were concerned with His will, His Word, His way, His service, His worship. They taught His law. Do you want to know what Jeroboam did? Jeroboam expelled all the Levites from Israel. And now he appointed men that he chose. Men that he called. Men that will do His bidding, men that will promote His kingdom, men that will work for His program, and men that will receive their government subsidies from the King.

[John Weaver] Now, look in verse 31, And He made a house of high places, and made priests of the lords of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. They were not qualified tribally, That is, they were not of Levi. They were not qualified vocationally. God never called them. And they were not qualified morally. They were the lowest of the people. Do you know what has happened in our land today?

[John Weaver] I want you to stop and think about this. Through political manipulation, through political correctness, The church that is the established church is being forced to accept sodomites and lesbians and perverts in the ministry all in the guise of public policy and a non-discriminatory policy. If you don't believe that, you hire an organist and then find out he's a sodomite and fire him and see how quickly you get sued.

[John Weaver] So what has happened is this. The sovereignly selected chosen group has now become a hodgepodge of perversion through political influence and control and manipulation. I hope you're beginning to see why God specifically refers to the sin of Jeroboam fifteen times. Here's the fifth thing that He did. Watch this. Verse 32, And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, likened to the feast that is in Judah.

[John Weaver] And he offered upon the altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So here's the fifth thing. Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month that was an imitation of God's appointed feast of Tabernacles.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will look in your Bibles, whole 1 Kings 12, but go to the book of Leviticus 23. Now, the Feast of the Tabernacles was in the seventh month. Well, he made his the eighth month. But look at it. Leviticus 23, verse 33. Leviticus 23, verse 33. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.

[John Weaver] And then he goes on to tell them about it. Now, let me ask you, does anybody in here know what the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrating? I say it again. What? That's correct. The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrating when they left Egypt. And what did they do? They built booths for seven days and dwelt therein. What were they celebrating? God's wonderful, bountiful provision while they were in the wilderness wandering. Do you remember that?

[John Weaver] How God gave them manna, God gave them water, God took care of them. So the Feast of Tabernacles then was a celebration of God and God's sovereign provision and graciousness to His people. But now what has Jeroboam done? Jeroboam has ordained him a feast like this in the eighth month, and now here we're going to have a celebration of the King. We're going to celebrate His reign, His kingdom, His subsidies, His provision. You see that? Listen to me, folks. When governments play God, they want to be recognized and worshipped as God.

[John Weaver] Has it ever dawned on you? We have state holidays, state parks, state recreational programs, state welfare, state Medicare, state retirement, Some of us would get a whole host of other provisions. In fact, I have heard people say, isn't it wonderful all the things the government gives us? The government, whether state or federal, cannot give anything without first taking from someone. But now all of a sudden, We think of the wonderful provision of the state, not God's provision, but the government's provision.

[John Weaver] Now let me ask you a question. I don't know if this thought has entered your mind. Why would Jeroboam do such a thing? Why would he create calves, institute a different religion, a pagan, idolatrous religion, and force it upon the people. Why would he do such a thing? Well, let's expand the question. Why would any civil ruler do such a thing? Let me show you why. Look back in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12. 1 Kings 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 26. Remember Jeroboam the king 1 Kings 12 verse 26, And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Why would he do such a thing? Because he knew that God gave the kingdom to David and his descendants.

[John Weaver] Jeroboam did not want a reuniting of the kingdoms. Jeroboam wanted to keep that gulf as far as possible. Why? For his own personal advantage. He wished to keep his own position, his own prestige, his own power, his own throne, his own kingdom, his own program. Jeroboam was interested only in himself. Therefore, he made that gulf between Judah and Israel as wide as possible, and he purposefully, purposefully molded his new religion, his state religion, after his own caprice. Now, I want you to see what he did.

[John Weaver] You remember I told you, and I pointed out in verse 28, whereupon the king took counsel. He did this thing purposefully. He did it deliberately. He did it premeditatedly. Why? Because in doing so, the worship of the people became a political institution. Thus, the kingdom of God became the kingdom of the king. And the sanctuary of God became the sanctuary of the king. Let me show you that in the Bible.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to the book of Amos chapter 7. Amos chapter 7. You remember I told you now that Hosea and Amos were contemporaries. They both preached against the house of Israel and both denounced Jeroboam II, that is Jeroboam the son of Joash. And so Amos is preaching in Israel and look what happens. Let's begin reading there with verse 11, here's what Amos is saying. Verse 11, For thus Amos said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. So Amos is saying, look, Jeroboam, you're going to be killed, and Israel's going to be taken captive. Watch verse 12.

[John Weaver] Also Amaziah, now this is the king's priest. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away from the land of Judah, And they'll eat bread and prophesy there.

[John Weaver] Now, this is a veil threat. If you want to live, you get out of town. If you want to live to eat again, you get out of town. You go back home, boy. Nobody called you up here. Have you ever heard politicians say, you preachers just take care of the churches. We'll take care of the nations. Don't interfere with us. Go back home, boy. We'll put you in jail. You follow me?

[John Weaver] Now, that's exactly what Amaziah is saying. Now, he hasn't finished. He says in verse 12, also Amaziah said, And Amos, O thou seer, go flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there. Ah, look at verse 13. But prophesy not again any more at Bethel. Why? For it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. This is our government's religion. You cannot be against our governmental religion without being against our government. And therefore, he says, you better get yourself home or we'll kill you.

[John Weaver] You're not going to destroy... Are you listening? You're not going to destroy the king's religion without destroying the king's kingdom. Now, out of all the kings of Israel, no king of Israel was willing to destroy Jeroboam's religion. None. Not one. Not one even attempted to. Why was there not one king of Israel that was willing to destroy Jeroboam's religion? The answer is very simple. To destroy Jeroboam's religion meant the destruction of the kingdom. It meant, therefore, that they would have to go back and acknowledge that David and his descendants were the true rightful heirs to the throne.

[John Weaver] And that they were rebels, that they were tyrants, that they were wicked, that they were ungodly. that everything they were doing was wrong. There was no king of Israel willing to cut his own throat and destroy his own kingdom. Hence, he had to maintain this paganistic Baal worship.

[John Weaver] Now, why must America remain a democracy? For the same reason, folks. Do you realize, for our civil leaders to go back to the Constitution, to go back to the Republic, to go back to the Founding Fathers, to go back to biblical principles, is for them to say, look, we've been wrong all these years. We've been wicked. We've been tyrants. We've been ungodly. And guess what? All of a sudden now, they're going to lose all of their humanistic, socialistic, welfaristic control, and the people will enjoy freedom. And they'll lose all of their power and all of their positions. And do you think, humanly speaking, any politician, Republican or Democrat, is going to do that? Not humanly speaking.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. One last passage. Look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 13. Here's the one passage I did not read to you, although I mentioned it to you. And I want you to look at the challenge that Abijah gave to Jeroboam. 2 Chronicles 13. Verse 1. Now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. And he reigned three years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. And Abijah sent the Babylon array with an army of valiant men of war, even 400,000 chosen men. So Judah had 400,000 men. Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with 800,000 chosen men, being mighty men of valor. So Judah then is outnumbered two to one. And Abijah stood up upon Mount Samarium, which is Mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me thou, Jeroboam, and all Israel. Now look what he tells him. Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

[John Weaver] Yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, is risen up and hath rebelled against his Lord. And there gathered in them vain men, the children of Belial, have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. Now look what he says, And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David? And you be a great multitude, And there are with you golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands, so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods? And as for us, The Lord is our God, we have not forsaken Him. The priests which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business, and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense.

[John Weaver] The showbread also they set up in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof to burn every evening, for we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him. And behold, God Himself is with us for our captains. and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you, O children of Israel, fight you not against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper.

[John Weaver] But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them, so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them." And when Judah looked back, and behold, the battle was before and behind, they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout, and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter." Watch,"...so that there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men." Now here's the point. Israel went so far. There was no turning back.

[John Weaver] The only thing left, the only way now to stop the idolatry and the wickedness was the destruction of the nation. That's exactly what God did. God destroyed them. God destroyed them. God sent the Assyrians and killed thousands, carried the rest into captivity. Do you see the point I'm trying to make, folks? We as a nation, if we do not repent, it may be that we have gone too far and the only way to stop us from our idolatry is the same destruction of our nation.

[John Weaver] Now let me tell you something. Let me encourage you. I don't know what God's going to do. I don't know what He's not going to do. I know what He has done in time past because of what the Bible teaches. But do you realize when God destroyed the nation, He spared a remnant. And that remnant rebuilt. Do you realize God always has His elect? God always has His remnant.

[John Weaver] And we are like that proverbial phoenix that rise out of the ashes of destruction and rebuild according to God's word, God's law, for God's honor, God's glory. I'm going to tell you something, folks. The more wicked, the more unrighteous, the more tyrannical, the more unrighteous the times, The more you better stick as close to the Word of God and the truth of God as you can. The truth is this, folks. If God does not sovereignly intervene in our nation, we're sunk. It takes an act of the sovereign God of heaven and earth.

[John Weaver] Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that You would help us. Enable us, Lord, not only to worship Thee, but enable us, Lord, to stand true, resist all forms and kinds and colors of idolatry, and worship the only one true and living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. We acknowledge, Father, that Thou art our Sovereign, Thou art our Ultimate, and Lord, Thou art our Absolute and only help and hope, and we cry to Thee, give us repentance as a nation, have mercy upon us, bring our hearts back to Thee, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen and Amen.

[John Weaver] Okay.

Why America Must Remain a Democracy

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	12160282917
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: Where We Are & How We Got Here
Genre	Sermon
Date	2002-09-22
Dictation Name
Book	Book 009: Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	96

Formatted Transcript

Introduction to Hosea and the Title

Weaver introduces the book of Hosea, noting his previous 75-message series, and gives the provocative title: 'Why America Must Remain a Democracy.' He acknowledges the objection that America is a republic, but argues that the republic was lost under Lincoln and replaced by mob-rule democracy.

Let's open our Bibles today, if you would please, to the book of Hosea, chapter 1. Ten years ago, I preached a series through the book of Hosea. It took me 75 messages to get through the book of Hosea. And this past week, I was preaching up in Alabama, and they asked me to deal with the book of Hosea for most of the services, and I did so. And as I did, all this came rushing back to me, and I wanted to just simply bring this message that I preached ten years ago for your consideration today, and I think it's even truer today. It was just as true back then, but I think you can see the application of it far more today. But let's begin today by looking at Hosea 1.

We're going to read verses 1 and 2. But primarily, we're just simply going to deal with verse one. So that's Hosea, chapter one, verses one and two.

Scripture Reading — Hosea 1:1-2

"The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord."

Now let me give you the title of the message today, and I hope that you will understand the title before I finish today. Here's the title of the message. Now listen carefully. I'm going to answer an objection just as I give you the title. Okay, here we are. The title of the message is, "Why America Must Remain a Democracy."

Now, you're going to say, "But Brother Weaver, we have a republic. We even pledge allegiance to the United States and the republic for which it stands. And our founding fathers gave us a republic." I know that. And you know that. And most of us also know that our republic was traded for an empire under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. And our republic has basically disappeared and in its place there has developed a democracy that is mob rule. So in all practicality today, we do not have a republic. That is practically speaking.

I have a cartoon on my desk at home. A pastor friend just asked me for it because he wanted it printed in his paper. And here's the man standing before the judge. The judge is looking over the desk, and the judge says, "The Constitution? We don't have time for nostalgia around here." Well, you understand where I'm coming from.

The Context of Hosea's Ministry

Hosea, whose name means 'helper' or 'savior,' ministered primarily to the northern tribes of Israel during the reigns of four kings of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel. His mission was to denounce Israel's idolatry and warn of coming judgment.

Now look at verse 1. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Now the name Hosea means helper, savior. It is the same root word from which Joshua is derived. Didn't you remember the word Joshua means savior? Now the Bible tells us that Hosea was the son of Beeri. Now it may interest you to know that there is absolutely nothing further revealed to us in Scripture about Beeri. All we know is that he was the father of Hosea. Now Amos and Hosea, Micah and Isaiah were contemporaries.

Let me say that again. Isaiah, Micah, Amos, and Hosea were contemporaries. That is, they all preached at exactly the same time. Isaiah and Micah preached primarily to Judah. Hosea and Amos were primarily to Israel, the ten northern tribes. Now, the book of Hosea is very easily divided. In fact, it's divided into two parts. The very first part is chapters 1-3. And in those chapters, you have a symbolical and introductory prelude to the message of Hosea. Then you have chapters 4-14 outlined, and let me give you very quickly what those are.

For instance, chapter 4, verse 6, through chapter 6 and verse 3. You have in these passages the magnitude of Israel's moral degradation and its just punishment. Secondly, from 6:4 to 11:12, you have the incorrigibility of the sinful nation with its obstinance, persistence in idolatry and unrighteousness. And then lastly, in chapters 12-14, you have the ripeness of Israel for punishment, notwithstanding the long-suffering and faithfulness of God.

Now, remember if you would please that Hosea and Amos preached primarily to the ten northern tribes. You cannot possibly understand the book of Hosea unless you understand the mission of Hosea. And Hosea's mission was to convince the Israelites of their abominable idolatry and wickedness, denouncing their sins with the most awful and severe threatenings and fearful destructions from God Himself. So, Hosea then is out to warn Israel. Now, in order to understand the book of Hosea, we must understand what Hosea is preaching against.

Now, I want you to look at verse 1 again, and I want you to pay close attention to it, because I'm going to ask you a question in just a moment. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Now let me just make a statement. Very clearly, Hosea had a lengthy ministry.

The Striking Detail in Hosea 1:1

Though sent to Israel, Hosea lists four kings of Judah and only one king of Israel. Weaver explains that the Judahite kings were the true Davidic line, while the Israelite kings were illegitimate. Jeroboam II is mentioned to reveal the corrupt state of the kingdom.

Probably some 60 to 70 years. Now I do want you to remember that he was sent primarily to Israel to the ten northern tribes. Now here's my question. What stands out very strikingly and very obviously in verse 1? Look at verse 1 again. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Well, what stands out? Well, the word of the Lord, yes, but there's something else that should be very obvious. Say it again, Rob.

Alright, but now wait a minute. Look at what is listed now. He's on the right track, but it's still not it specifically. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Alright, someone said it just then. If he was sent to Israel, and he was, why did he only mention just one king of Israel, and he mentioned four kings of Judah?

Now, you would not know this without studying, but I'm going to tell you this. Although he mentioned Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, there were at least six other Israelitish kings that Jeroboam ministered through their reigns. There was Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, Pekahiah, and Hoshea. So we've got to ask a question. Why did he mention four kings of Judah and only one king of Israel since he was sent to Israel? And why did he even mention Jeroboam the son of Joash at all? Well, let me answer the first one to begin with. First of all, Hosea lists the kings of Judah because they were the true kings. They were the true lineage of David. God did not ordain the Israelitish kings. He did not ordain the kings of Israel. The kings of Israel broke away from the house of David, and they were corrupt kings, and they forsook the true service and the true worship of the one true and living God. Now the second question, why did he mention Jeroboam the son of Joash at all?

And the answer is very simply, that we may know the state of the kingdom under which he was ministering. When you study the life of Jeroboam the son of Joash, and I'm going to show you a few things, and when you study the state of the kingdom, it was one of corruption, degradation, wickedness, sin, and rebellion against God. Now another interesting thing is this. Jeroboam the son of Joash is mentioned, and he is indeed a corrupt king, but God did use him to deliver Israel militarily from the Syrians. For instance, look back in your Bibles. Hold Hosea 1. But look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings 14. 2 Kings 14. And let's begin reading there with verse 23. 2 Kings 14.

The Sin of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat

Weaver identifies the sin of Jeroboam I as instituting calf worship at Bethel and Dan, which God repeatedly condemns as Baal worship. This sin is referenced fifteen times in Scripture, showing its severity.

Now you've got to ask yourself this question. What specifically was the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat? I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12, and let's begin reading there with verse 25. This is a very important passage. I want you to mark it because we will be coming back to this passage. 1 Kings 12, beginning with verse 25. "Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Now watch carefully. Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.

"Behold thy God, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi." "And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart. And he ordained a feast unto the children of Israel, and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense." Now, this is the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

Now, I want you to listen very carefully. This sin is so important. God mentions it fifteen times directly. That does not count the passing illusions and the references to this sin. God speaks of this sin fifteen times specifically. Turn over in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Kings 16. And look at verse 26. 1 Kings 16, verse 26. Here we're reading about Omri. "For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities." Look in verse 31. Now we're reading about the sin of Ahab. "And it came to pass that if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him." Look in chapter 22 of 1 Kings and verse 52. 1 Kings 22, verse 52. Here we're reading about Ahaziah the son of Ahab.

"And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." Let me just give you the listing of the other passages. 2 Kings 3, verse 3. 2 Kings 10, verse 29. 2 Kings 13, 2 and 11. 2 Kings 14, 24.

2 Kings 15, 9, 18, 24, and 28. 2 Kings 17, verse 21. 2 Kings 23, verse 15. And there's one other passage, and we'll close with that passage at the end. 2 Chronicles 13. Here are 15 specific references to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

Now, let me ask you, why does God emphasize this sin over and over in scripture? Because it was Israel's sin, and Israel's sin was idolatry. And the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was the sin of Baal worship.

The Five Actions of Jeroboam's Idolatry

Jeroboam (1) misrepresented God by making golden calves, (2) deprecated the true place of worship, (3) made scriptural worship difficult and his own worship easy, (4) changed the priesthood from divinely chosen to politically appointed, and (5) instituted a rival feast imitating God's Feast of Tabernacles.

So this was a deliberate thing. It was purposeful. It was premeditated. It was done by design. So he makes these two calves. What is his sin? Here's the first sin. Here's the first thing that he did. He misrepresented the true and the living God by making a physical representation of God. He misrepresented the true and the living God by making a physical representation of God.

Now, I don't have to go back to Exodus 20 and verse 4. You know that. The first commandment is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The second commandment is what? "Thou shalt not make unto thee any" what? "Graven images." Okay, now, go in your Bibles, hold 1 Kings, if you would, chapter 12. Go in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Look at the warning that God gave to Israel when He spoke to them from Mount Sinai. Deuteronomy 4, beginning there with verse 12. Deuteronomy 4, verse 12.

"And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire." Now look at this warning. "You heard the voice of the words, but you saw no similitude, only you heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might do them in the land whither you go over to possess it." Now look at this warning. "Take you therefore good heed unto yourselves, for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire." "Lest you corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth, and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all the nations under the whole earth." Now did you hear what God said? God said, now look, you heard a voice. You saw no shape. You saw no form. You saw no similitude. You make sure, said God, that you don't try to put me under an image, that you don't try to make a likeness of me. Male or female, animal, creation, anything, God says, do not do that.

Now, let me show you one of the reasons why. Look in your Bibles to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40.

Everyone knows the story about the little boy in Sunday school who was drawing a picture, and the teacher came along and said, "What are you drawing a picture of, son?" The little boy said, "I'm drawing a picture of God." Well, the teacher said, "No one knows what God looks like." He said, "They will when I get through." Well, let me tell you something, folks, that is indeed the basis of idolatry. Now look what God says in Isaiah 40, beginning there in verse 18. God asked,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 40:18-25

"To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him?"

Now, watch,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 40:18-25

"To whom then will you liken God?"

Do you realize God is unique? There's only one God. There's nothing else like God. So God asked,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 40:18-25

"To whom then will you liken God?"

Now look,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 40:18-25

"Or what likeness will you compare unto Him?"

So if you're going to make a comparison, what are you going to do? Now look what he says. "The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved." Now look what God says. "Have you not known? Have you not heard?"

"Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as curtains, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." Now look what God says. Here you are trying to make an image of me. Here you are trying to make a likeness of me. "Have you not heard? Have you not known? Have you not understood? It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth." What is God saying? God said, I created the earth. I am above my creation. I'm transcendent. If you try to make an image of me out of wood, you're going to run out of wood. I made everything on the earth. If you try to make one out of gold or silver, you're going to run out of gold and silver. I've created everything.

There's nothing that you can liken me to. There's nothing that you can compare me to. Look at it, if you would please, in verse 25, same chapter. He says, "To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Lord?"

Now, let me ask you a question. Since God is unique, since God is the One True and the Living God, He is the Sovereign, He is the Supreme, He is the Ultimate, He is the Absolute One, there is none like God. What in the world was Jeroboam doing when he made the calves? Well, listen carefully. Through the representation of the invisible and infinite God under the visible and earthly symbol of the calves, the glory of the one true and living God was brought down within the limits of the finite, and the God of Israel was placed then on an equality with the gods of the heathen. Let me explain that. What Jeroboam did was to cut God down to size. It's called a leveling of God. He took the One True and the Living God, who is the Sovereign, who is the Supreme, and brought Him down and put Him then on the level of all the heathen, pagan gods. You see, outwardly, Israel was professing to worship one true and living God, but in reality and in practice, they were worshiping a Baal.

They were worshiping a figment of their own imagination. I don't want to take the time to prove this to you. I can do it. It's another sermon. And I've done it in time past. But do you know where most idolatry comes from? Now, think through this. I'm not talking about from the human heart, that is true. Let me rephrase my question. Who is it that pushes and introduces idolatry more than any other?

It is the civil government. If you will study, you will find it was Solomon who introduced idolatry into the land. Here we have Jeroboam the son of Nebat introducing idolatry into the land. All throughout the Bible, it is the civil rulers who are pushing idolatry upon the people.

Now there's a reason for that. And I'll explain that in just a moment. But let me make a statement, and listen to this carefully. Before any civil ruler can push idolatry upon the people of God, he must first deny the supremacy and the sovereignty of God, and he must bring God down to the level of all the other gods and make Him equal to every other God. This is the impetus, dear friend, behind the New Age movement. This is the impetus behind humanism. This is why there are so many laws being passed attacking Christianity and calling us hate-mongers, because we are saying that there is only one true and living God, and that one true and living God is the Sovereign Supreme Being. Before any civil ruler can push any form of idolatry upon the people of God, he must first level God and get out of their minds that they worship the one sovereign supreme God of the universe. Before any civil ruler can push idolatry upon the people of God, he must make the Christian God on the same level as the Muslim God, the Jews' God, the Hindus' God, the Buddhists' God.

You've heard them say, "Well, after all, there's many roads that lead to heaven. After all, they're all working for the same place." What are they doing? They're leveling God. Let me tell you something, folks. God is unique. There is none like Him. There is nothing that you can compare Him to. And I can assure you of one thing. Those who deny the absolute supremacy and sovereignty and ultimacy of God in this life, in the next one, shall certainly recognize it. They will understand that there is only one true and living God. So the very first thing Jeroboam did was he made these calves. And in doing so, he was leveling God and bringing God down to the level of all the other pagan gods.

Now, go back in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12. Let me show you the second thing that Jeroboam did. 1 Kings 12. Look in verse 28 again. He says, "Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them," now you will like this, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, thy God, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." "And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan." That's like saying, it's too much trouble to drive way across. Just, you know, any of these churches will do. Why, after all, we're all worshiping the same God, aren't we?

Now, let me show you the second thing Jeroboam was doing. Jeroboam was deprecating the true place of worship. He not only made images of the sovereign God and leveled God, the second thing he did, he deprecated the true place of worship. He said, "It's too much for you to go to Jerusalem. Don't worry about Jerusalem." Who ordained Jerusalem? It was God. Who put the tabernacle in Jerusalem? God did. Who put the temple in Jerusalem? God did. And here Jeroboam, the king, is saying, "Look, my choice is as good as God's. You don't have to go to Jerusalem. Dan and Bethel are just as good as Jerusalem. Worship there." Now, have you ever heard this saying, "You don't have to go to church to worship God"?

Well, of course you have. Now let me explain something to you. That's true and it's not true. Is it true that I may worship God out in the forest and in the fields? Yes. I may worship Him through the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word by the power of the Spirit wherever I am. But does my outward external worship depreciate the value of public worship? And the answer is no.

Now let me tell you. I'll show you this. And it's vitally important. If you were in the Old Testament, and you wanted to worship the One True and the Living God publicly, where must you go to do so? Jerusalem, to the tabernacle, or to the temple? You had to go there. You could not worship Him publicly anywhere else, because the altar was there. His priesthood was there. The sacrifices were there. Here are two words for temple.

There's the heron and there's the naos. The heron is the temple, generally speaking. It's the whole thing. The naos refers to the holy of holies. Okay? Now, help me out. In the tabernacle and in the temple, the people could come into the common court. The priests went into the holy place ministering, but only the high priests went into that most holy place, the naos, once a year, and that not without the shedding of blood. When you come to 1 Corinthians 3, guess what? In 1 Corinthians 3, the Lord God says, "For you are the temple of God," and guess what is used? It is the word naos. It is not heron, the general term. It is the place where God peculiarly and particularly manifests Himself. So in the Old Testament, the peculiar and the particular manifestation of God was in Jerusalem, in the tabernacle, or in the temple later on when it was built. In the New Testament, where is God's peculiar and particular manifestation of Himself? It's in the assembly of His public worship, in the assembly of His people.

We are the naos of God, assembled together, worshiping God. Do you see that? And so God gives us a perfect picture here. Now my question is this, may I ignore the public worship of God where His peculiar and particular manifestation is by just saying, "Well, I'm out fishing today, I can worship just as good out here. Or I'm out hunting today, I can worship just as good out here." No! No! You see, the truth of the matter is this, folks. When you get to the philosophy, and this is the philosophy not only of civil government, but the philosophy of humanism. When you get to this philosophy, "Well, it doesn't matter where you go to church, just go."

Haven't you heard it advertised? "Go to the church of your choice." No, you better go to where God is particularly and peculiarly manifesting Himself, where He is worshipped publicly, where His Word is preached, where the true worship of God is. And when you say, "Well, it doesn't matter, synagogue, church building, temple, pagoda, it doesn't matter." Listen folks, that's what the ecumenical movement is all about. That's what the World Council of Churches and National Council of Churches is all about. Making all places of worship equal. They're not equal. They are not equal. What did Jeroboam do? He leveled the one true and the living God by cutting Him down to size, by making a physical manifestation of the invisible God. He deprecated the true place of worship.

And thirdly, go back in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 12, if you haven't gone there. Verses 28 through 30. Verse 28, "Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, thy God, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan." Now here's the third thing Jeroboam did. Listen carefully. Jeroboam made it politically, legally, and personally difficult to worship the true God scripturally, and he made it easy and politically expedient to worship his God unscripturally.

Now, I'll tell you this. I'm not going to take time to go there, but if you look in the book of Amos and study the book of Amos, you remember where he put these two golden calves, one at Dan and one at Bethel? Dan was at the northern border of Israel near Syria, and Bethel was at the southern border near Judah. And what he is saying is this. You just go to whichever one is easiest for you to worship. You just go there. Now watch. I told you that he made it politically, legally, and personally difficult to worship God scripturally.

How did he do that? Well, let me tell you something. And I'll show you this from the Bible in just a few moments. It was the king who made these two golden calves. It was the king who chose the places for them to sit. It was the king who ordained the feast. It was the king who ordained the altar. It was the king who made his priests.

Now, if you want to insult the king, if you want to slap him in the face, you ignore his religion and trek on down to Jerusalem. Now, is that politically correct? To do something like that? Well, of course not. And when you study the book of Amos, you will find that he even sent soldiers and guarded the way, and when people tried to go down to Jerusalem to worship, they were killed. What was he doing? He was making it politically and personally difficult to worship the One True and the Living God scripturally. Oh, but you could worship any false god easily because it was sanctioned by the king. I'm going to tell you folks the official position of our judicial system and the official position of our government on freedom of religion. Here it is. You have freedom of religion in this country, which means you're free to believe whatever you want to believe between these two ears, but don't you go out and try to practice anything that you really believe without our approval.

You follow me? That is exactly, exactly what Jeroboam was doing. And you try to serve God biblically. Let me tell you something, folks. You get down to the nitty-gritty, to the biblical application. You try to serve God, and I can assure you, somewhere along the line, a government agent is going to come in and say, "You can't do this. You're not licensed to do this. You don't have our permit."

What Jeroboam did was to make everyone politically correct. And if you were not politically correct, you were harassed, embarrassed, prosecuted, and persecuted. Now, look forward to what Jeroboam did. You'll find this in 1 Kings 12, verse 31. "And he made a house of high places," that is, he made his own temple, "and made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi." So the fourth thing Jeroboam did was this. Jeroboam changed the priesthood from a sovereignly selected group to a politically appointed group. Who was it that chose the Levites? It was God. Who ordained the Levites? It was God. Who called the Levites? It was God. You remember Matthew 3 and verse 13? On the calling of the disciples, the Bible says, "And Jesus Christ went into a mountain, and He called unto Himself whom He would." He sovereignly selected His own twelve disciples. Now watch this. When God ordained, chose, and called the Levites, that meant then the Levites were His priests.

They were concerned with His will, His Word, His way, His service, His worship. They taught His law. Do you want to know what Jeroboam did? Jeroboam expelled all the Levites from Israel. And now he appointed men that he chose. Men that he called. Men that will do His bidding, men that will promote His kingdom, men that will work for His program, and men that will receive their government subsidies from the King.

Now, look in verse 31, "And He made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi." They were not qualified tribally, that is, they were not of Levi. They were not qualified vocationally. God never called them. And they were not qualified morally. They were the lowest of the people. Do you know what has happened in our land today? I want you to stop and think about this. Through political manipulation, through political correctness, the church that is the established church is being forced to accept sodomites and lesbians and perverts in the ministry all in the guise of public policy and a non-discriminatory policy. If you don't believe that, you hire an organist and then find out he's a sodomite and fire him and see how quickly you get sued.

So what has happened is this. The sovereignly selected chosen group has now become a hodgepodge of perversion through political influence and control and manipulation. I hope you're beginning to see why God specifically refers to the sin of Jeroboam fifteen times. Here's the fifth thing that He did. Watch this. Verse 32, "And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah." "And he offered upon the altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made." So here's the fifth thing. Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month that was an imitation of God's appointed feast of Tabernacles.

Now, if you will look in your Bibles, hold 1 Kings 12, but go to the book of Leviticus 23. Now, the Feast of the Tabernacles was in the seventh month. Well, he made his the eighth month. But look at it. Leviticus 23, verse 33. Leviticus 23, verse 33.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 23:33-34

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord."

And then he goes on to tell them about it. Now, let me ask you, does anybody in here know what the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrating? I say it again. What? That's correct. The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrating when they left Egypt. And what did they do? They built booths for seven days and dwelt therein. What were they celebrating? God's wonderful, bountiful provision while they were in the wilderness wandering. Do you remember that?

How God gave them manna, God gave them water, God took care of them. So the Feast of Tabernacles then was a celebration of God and God's sovereign provision and graciousness to His people. But now what has Jeroboam done? Jeroboam has ordained him a feast like this in the eighth month, and now here we're going to have a celebration of the King. We're going to celebrate His reign, His kingdom, His subsidies, His provision. You see that? Listen to me, folks. When governments play God, they want to be recognized and worshipped as God.

The Political Motivation Behind Idolatry

Jeroboam's actions were deliberate and self-serving: he feared losing his kingdom if the people returned to Jerusalem. By creating a state religion, he made worship a political institution, ensuring his own power. No Israelite king would destroy this system because it would mean admitting rebellion and losing control.

Has it ever dawned on you? We have state holidays, state parks, state recreational programs, state welfare, state Medicare, state retirement, some of us would get a whole host of other provisions. In fact, I have heard people say, "Isn't it wonderful all the things the government gives us?" The government, whether state or federal, cannot give anything without first taking from someone. But now all of a sudden, we think of the wonderful provision of the state, not God's provision, but the government's provision.

Now let me ask you a question. I don't know if this thought has entered your mind. Why would Jeroboam do such a thing? Why would he create calves, institute a different religion, a pagan, idolatrous religion, and force it upon the people? Why would he do such a thing? Well, let's expand the question. Why would any civil ruler do such a thing? Let me show you why. Look back in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12. 1 Kings 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 26. Remember Jeroboam the king. 1 Kings 12 verse 26, "And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah." Why would he do such a thing? Because he knew that God gave the kingdom to David and his descendants.

Jeroboam did not want a reuniting of the kingdoms. Jeroboam wanted to keep that gulf as far as possible. Why? For his own personal advantage. He wished to keep his own position, his own prestige, his own power, his own throne, his own kingdom, his own program. Jeroboam was interested only in himself. Therefore, he made that gulf between Judah and Israel as wide as possible, and he purposefully, purposefully molded his new religion, his state religion, after his own caprice. Now, I want you to see what he did.

You remember I told you, and I pointed out in verse 28, "Whereupon the king took counsel." He did this thing purposefully. He did it deliberately. He did it premeditatedly. Why? Because in doing so, the worship of the people became a political institution. Thus, the kingdom of God became the kingdom of the king. And the sanctuary of God became the sanctuary of the king. Let me show you that in the Bible.

Look in your Bibles to the book of Amos chapter 7. Amos chapter 7. You remember I told you now that Hosea and Amos were contemporaries. They both preached against the house of Israel and both denounced Jeroboam II, that is Jeroboam the son of Joash. And so Amos is preaching in Israel and look what happens. Let's begin reading there with verse 11, here's what Amos is saying. Verse 11, "For thus Amos said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land." So Amos is saying, look, Jeroboam, you're going to be killed, and Israel's going to be taken captive. Watch verse 12.

"Also Amaziah," now this is the king's priest. "Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away from the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there." Now, this is a veiled threat. If you want to live, you get out of town. If you want to live to eat again, you get out of town. You go back home, boy. Nobody called you up here. Have you ever heard politicians say, "You preachers just take care of the churches. We'll take care of the nations. Don't interfere with us. Go back home, boy. We'll put you in jail." You follow me?

Now, that's exactly what Amaziah is saying. Now, he hasn't finished. He says in verse 12,

Scripture Reading — Amos 7:11-13

"Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there."

Ah, look at verse 13.

Scripture Reading — Amos 7:11-13

"But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court."

This is our government's religion. You cannot be against our governmental religion without being against our government. And therefore, he says, you better get yourself home or we'll kill you. You're not going to destroy... Are you listening? You're not going to destroy the king's religion without destroying the king's kingdom. Now, out of all the kings of Israel, no king of Israel was willing to destroy Jeroboam's religion. None. Not one. Not one even attempted to. Why was there not one king of Israel that was willing to destroy Jeroboam's religion? The answer is very simple. To destroy Jeroboam's religion meant the destruction of the kingdom. It meant, therefore, that they would have to go back and acknowledge that David and his descendants were the true rightful heirs to the throne.

And that they were rebels, that they were tyrants, that they were wicked, that they were ungodly. That everything they were doing was wrong. There was no king of Israel willing to cut his own throat and destroy his own kingdom. Hence, he had to maintain this paganistic Baal worship.

Application to Modern America

Weaver argues that American leaders cannot return to constitutional, biblical principles without admitting decades of wickedness and losing their humanistic, socialistic control. Thus, they must maintain the current 'democracy' of mob rule and pluralism.

Now, why must America remain a democracy? For the same reason, folks. Do you realize, for our civil leaders to go back to the Constitution, to go back to the Republic, to go back to the Founding Fathers, to go back to biblical principles, is for them to say, "Look, we've been wrong all these years. We've been wicked. We've been tyrants. We've been ungodly." And guess what? All of a sudden now, they're going to lose all of their humanistic, socialistic, welfaristic control, and the people will enjoy freedom. And they'll lose all of their power and all of their positions. And do you think, humanly speaking, any politician, Republican or Democrat, is going to do that? Not humanly speaking.

Now, let me show you. One last passage. Look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 13. Here's the one passage I did not read to you, although I mentioned it to you. And I want you to look at the challenge that Abijah gave to Jeroboam. 2 Chronicles 13. Verse 1. "Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. And he reigned three years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men." So Judah had 400,000 men. "Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valor." So Judah then is outnumbered two to one. "And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is Mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me thou, Jeroboam, and all Israel. Now look what he tells him. "Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?"

The Challenge of Abijah and the Inevitability of Judgment

In 2 Chronicles 13, Abijah confronts Jeroboam, declaring that God gave the kingdom to David's line. Despite being outnumbered, Judah prevails because God fights for them. Weaver warns that Israel went so far that only national destruction could stop the idolatry, and America may face the same fate unless God grants repentance.

"Yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, is risen up and hath rebelled against his Lord. And there gathered in him vain men, the children of Belial, have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. Now look what he says, "And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David? And you be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands, so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods? And as for us, the Lord is our God, we have not forsaken Him. The priests which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business, and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense."

"The showbread also they set up in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof to burn every evening, for we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him. And behold, God Himself is with us for our captains, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you, O children of Israel, fight you not against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper." "But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them, so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. And when Judah looked back, and behold, the battle was before and behind, they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout, and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter." Watch, "...so that there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men." Now here's the point. Israel went so far. There was no turning back.

The only thing left, the only way now to stop the idolatry and the wickedness was the destruction of the nation. That's exactly what God did. God destroyed them. God destroyed them. God sent the Assyrians and killed thousands, carried the rest into captivity. Do you see the point I'm trying to make, folks? We as a nation, if we do not repent, it may be that we have gone too far and the only way to stop us from our idolatry is the same destruction of our nation.

Hope for the Remnant

Even in judgment, God preserves a remnant. Weaver encourages believers to cling to God's Word and truth, trusting that God's sovereign intervention is the only hope for the nation.

Now let me tell you something. Let me encourage you. I don't know what God's going to do. I don't know what He's not going to do. I know what He has done in time past because of what the Bible teaches. But do you realize when God destroyed the nation, He spared a remnant. And that remnant rebuilt. Do you realize God always has His elect? God always has His remnant.

And we are like that proverbial phoenix that rise out of the ashes of destruction and rebuild according to God's word, God's law, for God's honor, God's glory. I'm going to tell you something, folks. The more wicked, the more unrighteous, the more tyrannical, the more unrighteous the times, the more you better stick as close to the Word of God and the truth of God as you can. The truth is this, folks. If God does not sovereignly intervene in our nation, we're sunk. It takes an act of the sovereign God of heaven and earth. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that You would help us. Enable us, Lord, not only to worship Thee, but enable us, Lord, to stand true, resist all forms and kinds and colors of idolatry, and worship the only one true and living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. We acknowledge, Father, that Thou art our Sovereign, Thou art our Ultimate, and Lord, Thou art our Absolute and only help and hope, and we cry to Thee, give us repentance as a nation, have mercy upon us, bring our hearts back to Thee, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen and Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Sin of Idolatry as Political Manipulation

Summary: Jeroboam's calf worship was a deliberate political strategy to consolidate power by creating a state religion that replaced true worship of God.

Evidence: Weaver explains that Jeroboam 'took counsel' and made the calves to prevent the people from returning to Jerusalem and reuniting the kingdom under David's line (1 Kings 12:26-28).

Leveling God to Enable Pluralism

Summary: By making physical representations of God, Jeroboam brought the transcendent God down to the level of pagan deities, making it easier to promote religious pluralism.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Through the representation of the invisible and infinite God under the visible and earthly symbol of the calves, the glory of the one true and living God was brought down within the limits of the finite, and the God of Israel was placed then on an equality with the gods of the heathen.'

The Corruption of Worship and Priesthood by the State

Summary: Jeroboam changed the place of worship, the priesthood, and the religious calendar to suit his political agenda, making true worship difficult and false worship convenient.

Evidence: Weaver notes that Jeroboam made priests 'of the lowest of the people' (1 Kings 12:31) and instituted a feast in the eighth month to rival God's appointed Feast of Tabernacles.

The Impossibility of Political Repentance

Summary: No king of Israel would destroy Jeroboam's religion because doing so would mean admitting rebellion and losing power. Similarly, American leaders cannot return to constitutional principles without undermining their own authority.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'To destroy Jeroboam's religion meant the destruction of the kingdom. It meant, therefore, that they would have to go back and acknowledge that David and his descendants were the true rightful heirs to the throne.'

National Judgment as the Only Remedy

Summary: When a nation goes too far in idolatry, God may bring destruction as the only way to stop the wickedness, as He did with Israel through the Assyrians.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'The only thing left, the only way now to stop the idolatry and the wickedness was the destruction of the nation. That's exactly what God did.'

God's Preservation of a Faithful Remnant

Summary: Even in judgment, God spares a remnant who remain faithful and rebuild according to His Word.

Evidence: Weaver encourages, 'Do you realize when God destroyed the nation, He spared a remnant. And that remnant rebuilt.'

Key Arguments

America is functionally a democracy, not a republic

Summary: Weaver argues that the original republic was lost under Lincoln and replaced by mob-rule democracy, making the title 'Why America Must Remain a Democracy' a critique of the current system.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Our republic was traded for an empire under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. And our republic has basically disappeared and in its place there has developed a democracy that is mob rule.'

Jeroboam's sin was a deliberate political act

Summary: The golden calves were not a spontaneous error but a calculated move to secure Jeroboam's throne by preventing reunification with Judah.

Evidence: Weaver emphasizes, 'Whereupon the king took counsel... This was a deliberate thing. It was purposeful. It was premeditated.'

Civil government is the primary promoter of idolatry

Summary: Throughout Scripture, it is civil rulers who introduce and enforce idolatry upon the people, as seen with Solomon and Jeroboam.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'If you will study, you will find it was Solomon who introduced idolatry into the land. Here we have Jeroboam the son of Nebat introducing idolatry into the land. All throughout the Bible, it is the civil rulers who are pushing idolatry upon the people.'

Modern religious freedom is a facade

Summary: The official position of the U.S. government allows freedom of belief but restricts the practice of biblical Christianity without state approval.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'You have freedom of religion in this country, which means you're free to believe whatever you want to believe between these two ears, but don't you go out and try to practice anything that you really believe without our approval.'

Political correctness enforces state religion

Summary: Just as Jeroboam made it difficult to worship God scripturally, modern governments use political correctness to harass and prosecute those who adhere to biblical truth.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'What Jeroboam did was to make everyone politically correct. And if you were not politically correct, you were harassed, embarrassed, prosecuted, and persecuted.'

The church is being forced to accept ungodly leadership

Summary: Through political manipulation, churches are pressured to accept practicing homosexuals and other unqualified individuals into ministry, mirroring Jeroboam's appointment of 'the lowest of the people' as priests.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Through political manipulation, through political correctness, the church that is the established church is being forced to accept sodomites and lesbians and perverts in the ministry.'

Governments demand worship when they play God

Summary: When civil rulers provide for people's needs, they expect recognition and worship, replacing God's provision with state provision.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When governments play God, they want to be recognized and worshipped as God.'

Only divine intervention can save America

Summary: Given the depth of national idolatry, only a sovereign act of God can bring repentance and avert destruction.

Evidence: Weaver concludes, 'If God does not sovereignly intervene in our nation, we're sunk. It takes an act of the sovereign God of heaven and earth.'

Scripture References

Hosea 1:1-2

Context: Introduction to the book and the focus on verse 1, listing the kings during Hosea's ministry.

2 Kings 14:23-28

Context: Description of Jeroboam II's reign, his evil, and God's use of him to deliver Israel from Syria.

1 Kings 12:25-33

Context: The account of Jeroboam I's sin: making golden calves, changing worship locations, appointing non-Levitical priests, and instituting a new feast.

1 Kings 16:26

Context: Omri walked in the sins of Jeroboam, provoking God to anger.

1 Kings 16:31

Context: Ahab considered it a light thing to walk in Jeroboam's sins and added Baal worship.

1 Kings 22:52

Context: Ahaziah walked in the way of Jeroboam, making Israel to sin.

2 Kings 10:24-31

Context: Jehu destroyed Baal worship outwardly but did not depart from Jeroboam's golden calves.

Hosea 2:8, 13

Context: God calls Israel's calf worship 'Baal' worship, showing its true nature.

Deuteronomy 4:12-19

Context: God's warning against making any graven image or likeness, since Israel saw no form at Sinai.

Isaiah 40:18-25

Context: God's transcendence and uniqueness make any likeness impossible and idolatrous.

Leviticus 23:33-34

Context: God's institution of the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month, which Jeroboam imitated in the eighth month.

Amos 7:11-13

Context: Amaziah, the king's priest, tells Amos to flee and not prophesy at Bethel because it is the king's chapel and court.

2 Chronicles 13:1-18

Context: Abijah's challenge to Jeroboam, declaring God's covenant with David, and Judah's victory despite being outnumbered.

Historical References

Jeroboam I (son of Nebat)

Context: The first king of the northern kingdom of Israel who instituted calf worship at Bethel and Dan, a sin repeatedly condemned in Scripture.

Jeroboam II (son of Joash)

Context: The king of Israel during Hosea's ministry, who continued in the sins of Jeroboam I despite being used by God to deliver Israel militarily.

Abraham Lincoln

Context: Weaver claims the American republic was traded for an empire under Lincoln's presidency, leading to the current democracy.

The Assyrian Captivity

Context: God used the Assyrians to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel as judgment for their idolatry, killing thousands and carrying the rest into captivity.

Important Quotes

The Constitution? We don't have time for nostalgia around here.

Significance: Illustrates the modern disregard for constitutional principles, paralleling Jeroboam's rejection of God's ordained order.

Through the representation of the invisible and infinite God under the visible and earthly symbol of the calves, the glory of the one true and living God was brought down within the limits of the finite, and the God of Israel was placed then on an equality with the gods of the heathen.

Significance: Explains the theological essence of Jeroboam's sin: leveling the transcendent God to enable pluralism.

Before any civil ruler can push idolatry upon the people of God, he must first deny the supremacy and the sovereignty of God, and he must bring God down to the level of all the other gods and make Him equal to every other God.

Significance: Connects Jeroboam's strategy to modern political and religious pluralism.

You have freedom of religion in this country, which means you're free to believe whatever you want to believe between these two ears, but don't you go out and try to practice anything that you really believe without our approval.

Significance: Highlights the hypocrisy of modern religious liberty, where belief is free but practice is regulated by the state.

When governments play God, they want to be recognized and worshipped as God.

Significance: Summarizes the ultimate goal of state religion: to replace God as the object of worship and provision.

To destroy Jeroboam's religion meant the destruction of the kingdom. It meant, therefore, that they would have to go back and acknowledge that David and his descendants were the true rightful heirs to the throne.

Significance: Explains why no Israelite king would repent: it would mean admitting rebellion and losing power.

The only thing left, the only way now to stop the idolatry and the wickedness was the destruction of the nation.

Significance: Warns that national judgment may be the only remedy for entrenched idolatry.

If God does not sovereignly intervene in our nation, we're sunk. It takes an act of the sovereign God of heaven and earth.

Significance: Emphasizes that only divine intervention can save America from its trajectory.

Discussion Questions

In what ways do modern governments 'level God' by promoting religious pluralism, and how should Christians respond?

Context: Weaver argues that Jeroboam's calves brought God down to the level of pagan gods, and that civil rulers today do the same by equating all religions.

How does the concept of 'political correctness' function as a tool to suppress biblical truth, similar to Jeroboam's making scriptural worship difficult?

Context: Weaver states that Jeroboam made it politically and personally difficult to worship God scripturally, and that modern governments use political correctness to harass believers.

What are the dangers of the church accepting state-appointed or culturally-approved leadership instead of biblically qualified leaders?

Context: Weaver compares Jeroboam's appointment of 'the lowest of the people' as priests to modern pressures to accept unqualified individuals in ministry.

Why is it so difficult for political leaders to admit past wrongs and return to constitutional or biblical principles?

Context: Weaver explains that no Israelite king would destroy Jeroboam's religion because it would mean admitting rebellion and losing power.

What does it look like for Christians to be a faithful remnant in a nation that has embraced idolatry?

Context: Weaver encourages believers to stick close to God's Word and truth, trusting that God preserves a remnant even in judgment.

Applications

Resist Idolatry in All Forms

Summary: Believers must recognize and reject any attempt to level God or equate Him with false gods, whether in civil religion, pluralism, or personal practice.

Evidence: Weaver warns against making any physical representation of God and calls for worship of the unique, sovereign God alone.

Prioritize Scriptural Worship

Summary: Christians should not neglect public worship where God peculiarly manifests Himself, resisting the cultural notion that all places of worship are equal.

Evidence: Weaver argues that the New Testament assembly is the 'naos' of God and should not be replaced by private or convenient alternatives.

Be Prepared for Persecution

Summary: Faithful obedience to God may bring conflict with government authorities, and believers should expect harassment when they practice biblical truth without state approval.

Evidence: Weaver states that trying to serve God biblically will eventually lead to government agents saying, 'You can't do this.'

Maintain Biblical Church Leadership

Summary: Churches must resist political and cultural pressure to accept unqualified leaders and instead uphold God's standards for ministry.

Evidence: Weaver condemns the forced acceptance of 'sodomites and lesbians and perverts in the ministry' through political correctness.

Trust God's Sovereignty in National Affairs

Summary: In the face of national decline, believers should cry out to God for repentance and trust that He is able to intervene and preserve a remnant.

Evidence: Weaver prays for God to give national repentance and acknowledges that only His sovereign act can save the nation.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:03:16Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:41:47Z

Clean Transcript

Why America Must Remain a Democracy

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Let's open our Bibles today, if you would please, to the book of Hosea, chapter 1. Ten years ago, I preached a series through the book of Hosea. It took me 75 messages to get through the book of Hosea. And this past week, I was preaching up in Alabama, and they asked me to deal with the book of Hosea for most of the services, and I did so. And as I did, all this came rushing back to me, and I wanted to just simply bring this message that I preached ten years ago for your consideration today, and I think it's even truer today. It was just as true back then, but I think you can see the application of it far more today. But let's begin today by looking at Hosea 1.
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We're going to read verses 1 and 2. But primarily, we're just simply going to deal with verse one. So that's Hosea, chapter one, verses one and two. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord."
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Now let me give you the title of the message today, and I hope that you will understand the title before I finish today. Here's the title of the message. Now listen carefully. I'm going to answer an objection just as I give you the title. Okay, here we are. The title of the message is, "Why America Must Remain a Democracy."
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Now, you're going to say, "But Brother Weaver, we have a republic. We even pledge allegiance to the United States and the republic for which it stands. And our founding fathers gave us a republic." I know that. And you know that. And most of us also know that our republic was traded for an empire under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. And our republic has basically disappeared and in its place there has developed a democracy that is mob rule. So in all practicality today, we do not have a republic. That is practically speaking.
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I have a cartoon on my desk at home. A pastor friend just asked me for it because he wanted it printed in his paper. And here's the man standing before the judge. The judge is looking over the desk, and the judge says, "The Constitution? We don't have time for nostalgia around here." Well, you understand where I'm coming from.
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Now look at verse 1. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Now the name Hosea means helper, savior. It is the same root word from which Joshua is derived. Didn't you remember the word Joshua means savior? Now the Bible tells us that Hosea was the son of Beeri. Now it may interest you to know that there is absolutely nothing further revealed to us in Scripture about Beeri. All we know is that he was the father of Hosea. Now Amos and Hosea, Micah and Isaiah were contemporaries.
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Let me say that again. Isaiah, Micah, Amos, and Hosea were contemporaries. That is, they all preached at exactly the same time. Isaiah and Micah preached primarily to Judah. Hosea and Amos were primarily to Israel, the ten northern tribes. Now, the book of Hosea is very easily divided. In fact, it's divided into two parts. The very first part is chapters 1-3. And in those chapters, you have a symbolical and introductory prelude to the message of Hosea. Then you have chapters 4-14 outlined, and let me give you very quickly what those are.
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For instance, chapter 4, verse 6, through chapter 6 and verse 3. You have in these passages the magnitude of Israel's moral degradation and its just punishment.
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Secondly, from 6:4 to 11:12, you have the incorrigibility of the sinful nation with its obstinance, persistence in idolatry and unrighteousness. And then lastly, in chapters 12-14, you have the ripeness of Israel for punishment, notwithstanding the long-suffering and faithfulness of God.
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Now, remember if you would please that Hosea and Amos preached primarily to the ten northern tribes. You cannot possibly understand the book of Hosea unless you understand the mission of Hosea. And Hosea's mission was to convince the Israelites of their abominable idolatry and wickedness, denouncing their sins with the most awful and severe threatenings and fearful destructions from God Himself. So, Hosea then is out to warn Israel. Now, in order to understand the book of Hosea, we must understand what Hosea is preaching against.
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Now, I want you to look at verse 1 again, and I want you to pay close attention to it, because I'm going to ask you a question in just a moment. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Now let me just make a statement. Very clearly, Hosea had a lengthy ministry.
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Probably some 60 to 70 years. Now I do want you to remember that he was sent primarily to Israel to the ten northern tribes. Now here's my question. What stands out very strikingly and very obviously in verse 1? Look at verse 1 again. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Well, what stands out? Well, the word of the Lord, yes, but there's something else that should be very obvious. Say it again, Rob.
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Alright, but now wait a minute. Look at what is listed now. He's on the right track, but it's still not it specifically. "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Alright, someone said it just then. If he was sent to Israel, and he was, why did he only mention just one king of Israel, and he mentioned four kings of Judah?
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Now, you would not know this without studying, but I'm going to tell you this. Although he mentioned Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, there were at least six other Israelitish kings that Jeroboam ministered through their reigns. There was Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, Pekahiah, and Hoshea. So we've got to ask a question. Why did he mention four kings of Judah and only one king of Israel since he was sent to Israel? And why did he even mention Jeroboam the son of Joash at all? Well, let me answer the first one to begin with. First of all, Hosea lists the kings of Judah because they were the true kings. They were the true lineage of David. God did not ordain the Israelitish kings. He did not ordain the kings of Israel. The kings of Israel broke away from the house of David, and they were corrupt kings, and they forsook the true service and the true worship of the one true and living God. Now the second question, why did he mention Jeroboam the son of Joash at all?
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And the answer is very simply, that we may know the state of the kingdom under which he was ministering. When you study the life of Jeroboam the son of Joash, and I'm going to show you a few things, and when you study the state of the kingdom, it was one of corruption, degradation, wickedness, sin, and rebellion against God.
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Now another interesting thing is this. Jeroboam the son of Joash is mentioned, and he is indeed a corrupt king, but God did use him to deliver Israel militarily from the Syrians. For instance, look back in your Bibles. Hold Hosea 1. But look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings 14. 2 Kings 14. And let's begin reading there with verse 23. 2 Kings 14.
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And notice verse 23. And remember now this is Jeroboam the son of Joash. 2 Kings chapter 14 verse 23. "In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty and one years."
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Now look what God says. "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."
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Now let me just stop right here and tell you. Jeroboam the son of Nebat is known as Jeroboam I. Jeroboam the son of Joash is known as Jeroboam II. Okay? So we're talking about Jeroboam II now. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
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Now look at verse 25. "He," that is, Jeroboam the son of Joash, "restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet that was of Gath-Hepher." Now, I want you to note, if you would please, God delivered Israel under the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. Now skip down to verse 26, "For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said that he would not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash." Now all the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did in his might and how he warred and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath, which belonged to Judah for Israel, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
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So Jeroboam was indeed a mighty warrior. God used him to deliver Israel, militarily speaking, from the Syrians, but he was a wicked, ungodly king.
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Now what does the Bible say specifically about Jeroboam the son of Joash? He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
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Now you've got to ask yourself this question. What specifically was the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat? I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12, and let's begin reading there with verse 25. This is a very important passage. I want you to mark it because we will be coming back to this passage. 1 Kings 12, beginning with verse 25. "Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Now watch carefully. Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.
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"Behold thy God, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi."
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"And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart. And he ordained a feast unto the children of Israel, and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense." Now, this is the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
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Now, I want you to listen very carefully. This sin is so important. God mentions it fifteen times directly. That does not count the passing illusions and the references to this sin. God speaks of this sin fifteen times specifically. Turn over in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Kings 16. And look at verse 26. 1 Kings 16, verse 26. Here we're reading about Omri. "For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities." Look in verse 31. Now we're reading about the sin of Ahab. "And it came to pass that if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him." Look in chapter 22 of 1 Kings and verse 52. 1 Kings 22, verse 52. Here we're reading about Ahaziah the son of Ahab.
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"And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." Let me just give you the listing of the other passages. 2 Kings 3, verse 3. 2 Kings 10, verse 29. 2 Kings 13, 2 and 11. 2 Kings 14, 24.
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2 Kings 15, 9, 18, 24, and 28. 2 Kings 17, verse 21. 2 Kings 23, verse 15. And there's one other passage, and we'll close with that passage at the end. 2 Chronicles 13. Here are 15 specific references to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
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Now, let me ask you, why does God emphasize this sin over and over in scripture? Because it was Israel's sin, and Israel's sin was idolatry. And the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was the sin of Baal worship.
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Now, some of you know your Bible history fairly well, and you're going to give me two objections when I say that. The first objection you're going to give me is this. "Well, now, Brother Weaver, Israel worshipped the One True and the Living God. They just worshipped that One True and the Living God under the symbol of the calves." And my answer to that is this. God called it Baal worship. And I'm going to show you the chapter and verse in just a moment. Then you're going to give me another objection. You're going to say, "But Brother Weaver, I read my Bible and I know that one of the kings of Israel, Jehu, he wiped out Baal worship out of Israel." Well, let's go there, 2 Kings 10, and let's begin reading there with verse 24. 2 Kings 10, verse 24. It is true that Jehu did a good job in eliminating a lot of the Baal worship. You know the story. I'm going to read it for you in just a moment. But Jehu gets all of the priests of Baal into the temple of Baal.
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He proclaims a big sacrifice. Then he puts his soldiers around that temple. He says, if you let anybody escape, your life is for his. You go in and kill them all. Now watch. 2 Kings 10 verse 24, "And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him. And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and they went to the city of the house of Baal. And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them." Watch. "And they break down the image of Baal, and break down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day."
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Thus, Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. You say, there it is black and white. The Bible says he wiped Baal out of Israel. Yes, it does. It does say that, and he did eliminate the raw, outward, external worship of Baal. But read the next verse. "Howbeit, from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan." Isn't that interesting? Look, if you would please, verse 31, "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all of his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin." Now, if you will look back in your Bibles to the book of Hosea, Hosea 2, verse 8, let me show you what God is saying, because He is referring to this calf worship as Baal worship. Hosea 2, verse 8, God says concerning Israel, "For she did not know that I gave her corn and wine in the time thereof, and oil and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for what?"
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For Baal. So when they were worshipping the calves, God says they were worshipping Baal. Look in verse 13. "And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim," this is Hosea 2 verse 13, "when she burnt incense to them, and she decked herself with earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers and forgot me, saith the Lord." So God is saying that the calf worship was nothing less than Baal worship.
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So what Jeroboam the son of Nebat did was this. He instituted the worship of God under the color and the cover of the two calves, which was a transgression of the covenant, but God did not call it His worship. He called it Baal worship.
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Now, I want you to go back to 1 Kings 12. It's very important that you see exactly what Jeroboam did. I hope you're going to see some parallels with what is going on in our land today. But let me show you first of all what Jeroboam did. Let me show you why God referred to this sin 15 times specifically and God was so angry with the kings of Israel. Notice 1 Kings chapter 12. The Bible tells us in verse 28, "Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Now, he made two golden calves, and by the way, I'll deal with this a little bit later, but I want you to note what the Scripture says. "Whereupon the king took counsel."
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So this was a deliberate thing. It was purposeful. It was premeditated. It was done by design. So he makes these two calves. What is his sin? Here's the first sin. Here's the first thing that he did. He misrepresented the true and the living God by making a physical representation of God. He misrepresented the true and the living God by making a physical representation of God.
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Now, I don't have to go back to Exodus 20 and verse 4. You know that. The first commandment is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The second commandment is what? "Thou shalt not make unto thee any" what? "Graven images." Okay, now, go in your Bibles, hold 1 Kings, if you would, chapter 12. Go in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Look at the warning that God gave to Israel when He spoke to them from Mount Sinai. Deuteronomy 4, beginning there with verse 12. Deuteronomy 4, verse 12.
#37 | 22:43 to 23:21 | cleaned
"And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire." Now look at this warning. "You heard the voice of the words, but you saw no similitude, only you heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might do them in the land whither you go over to possess it." Now look at this warning. "Take you therefore good heed unto yourselves, for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire."
#38 | 23:21 to 23:56 | cleaned
"Lest you corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth, and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all the nations under the whole earth." Now did you hear what God said? God said, now look, you heard a voice. You saw no shape. You saw no form. You saw no similitude. You make sure, said God, that you don't try to put me under an image, that you don't try to make a likeness of me. Male or female, animal, creation, anything, God says, do not do that.
#39 | 23:57 to 24:51 | cleaned
Now, let me show you one of the reasons why. Look in your Bibles to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40.
#40 | 24:52 to 24:56 | cleaned
Everyone knows the story about the little boy in Sunday school who was drawing a picture, and the teacher came along and said, "What are you drawing a picture of, son?" The little boy said, "I'm drawing a picture of God." Well, the teacher said, "No one knows what God looks like." He said, "They will when I get through." Well, let me tell you something, folks, that is indeed the basis of idolatry.
#41 | 25:05 to 25:31 | cleaned
Now look what God says in Isaiah 40, beginning there in verse 18. God asked, "To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him?" Now, watch, "To whom then will you liken God?" Do you realize God is unique? There's only one God. There's nothing else like God. So God asked, "To whom then will you liken God?" Now look, "Or what likeness will you compare unto Him?"
#42 | 25:32 to 26:07 | cleaned
So if you're going to make a comparison, what are you going to do? Now look what he says. "The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved." Now look what God says. "Have you not known? Have you not heard?"
#43 | 26:07 to 26:37 | cleaned
"Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as curtains, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in."
#44 | 26:38 to 26:55 | cleaned
Now look what God says. Here you are trying to make an image of me. Here you are trying to make a likeness of me. "Have you not heard? Have you not known? Have you not understood? It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth." What is God saying? God said, I created the earth. I am above my creation. I'm transcendent. If you try to make an image of me out of wood, you're going to run out of wood. I made everything on the earth. If you try to make one out of gold or silver, you're going to run out of gold and silver. I've created everything.
#45 | 26:55 to 27:30 | cleaned
There's nothing that you can liken me to. There's nothing that you can compare me to. Look at it, if you would please, in verse 25, same chapter. He says, "To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Lord?"
#46 | 27:31 to 27:47 | cleaned
Now, let me ask you a question. Since God is unique, since God is the One True and the Living God, He is the Sovereign, He is the Supreme, He is the Ultimate, He is the Absolute One, there is none like God. What in the world was Jeroboam doing when he made the calves? Well, listen carefully. Through the representation of the invisible and infinite God under the visible and earthly symbol of the calves, the glory of the one true and living God was brought down within the limits of the finite, and the God of Israel was placed then on an equality with the gods of the heathen. Let me explain that. What Jeroboam did was to cut God down to size. It's called a leveling of God. He took the One True and the Living God, who is the Sovereign, who is the Supreme, and brought Him down and put Him then on the level of all the heathen, pagan gods. You see, outwardly, Israel was professing to worship one true and living God, but in reality and in practice, they were worshiping a Baal.
#47 | 27:47 to 29:06 | cleaned
They were worshiping a figment of their own imagination. I don't want to take the time to prove this to you. I can do it. It's another sermon. And I've done it in time past. But do you know where most idolatry comes from? Now, think through this. I'm not talking about from the human heart, that is true. Let me rephrase my question. Who is it that pushes and introduces idolatry more than any other?
#48 | 29:06 to 29:38 | cleaned
It is the civil government. If you will study, you will find it was Solomon who introduced idolatry into the land. Here we have Jeroboam the son of Nebat introducing idolatry into the land. All throughout the Bible, it is the civil rulers who are pushing idolatry upon the people.
#49 | 29:39 to 30:01 | cleaned
Now there's a reason for that. And I'll explain that in just a moment. But let me make a statement, and listen to this carefully. Before any civil ruler can push idolatry upon the people of God, he must first deny the supremacy and the sovereignty of God, and he must bring God down to the level of all the other gods and make Him equal to every other God.
#50 | 30:01 to 30:26 | cleaned
This is the impetus, dear friend, behind the New Age movement. This is the impetus behind humanism. This is why there are so many laws being passed attacking Christianity and calling us hate-mongers, because we are saying that there is only one true and living God, and that one true and living God is the Sovereign Supreme Being. Before any civil ruler can push any form of idolatry upon the people of God, he must first level God and get out of their minds that they worship the one sovereign supreme God of the universe. Before any civil ruler can push idolatry upon the people of God, he must make the Christian God on the same level as the Muslim God, the Jews' God, the Hindus' God, the Buddhists' God.
#51 | 30:26 to 31:28 | cleaned
You've heard them say, "Well, after all, there's many roads that lead to heaven. After all, they're all working for the same place." What are they doing? They're leveling God. Let me tell you something, folks. God is unique. There is none like Him. There is nothing that you can compare Him to. And I can assure you of one thing. Those who deny the absolute supremacy and sovereignty and ultimacy of God in this life, in the next one, shall certainly recognize it. They will understand that there is only one true and living God. So the very first thing Jeroboam did was he made these calves. And in doing so, he was leveling God and bringing God down to the level of all the other pagan gods.
#52 | 31:33 to 32:28 | cleaned
Now, go back in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12. Let me show you the second thing that Jeroboam did. 1 Kings 12. Look in verse 28 again. He says, "Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them," now you will like this, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, thy God, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."
#53 | 32:28 to 32:57 | cleaned
"And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan." That's like saying, it's too much trouble to drive way across. Just, you know, any of these churches will do. Why, after all, we're all worshiping the same God, aren't we?
#54 | 32:58 to 33:15 | cleaned
Now, let me show you the second thing Jeroboam was doing. Jeroboam was deprecating the true place of worship. He not only made images of the sovereign God and leveled God, the second thing he did, he deprecated the true place of worship. He said, "It's too much for you to go to Jerusalem. Don't worry about Jerusalem." Who ordained Jerusalem? It was God. Who put the tabernacle in Jerusalem? God did. Who put the temple in Jerusalem? God did. And here Jeroboam, the king, is saying, "Look, my choice is as good as God's. You don't have to go to Jerusalem. Dan and Bethel are just as good as Jerusalem. Worship there." Now, have you ever heard this saying, "You don't have to go to church to worship God"?
#55 | 33:16 to 34:15 | cleaned
Well, of course you have. Now let me explain something to you. That's true and it's not true. Is it true that I may worship God out in the forest and in the fields? Yes. I may worship Him through the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word by the power of the Spirit wherever I am. But does my outward external worship depreciate the value of public worship? And the answer is no.
#56 | 34:16 to 34:44 | cleaned
Now let me tell you. I'll show you this. And it's vitally important. If you were in the Old Testament, and you wanted to worship the One True and the Living God publicly, where must you go to do so? Jerusalem, to the tabernacle, or to the temple? You had to go there. You could not worship Him publicly anywhere else, because the altar was there. His priesthood was there. The sacrifices were there. Here are two words for temple.
#57 | 34:45 to 35:21 | cleaned
There's the heron and there's the naos. The heron is the temple, generally speaking. It's the whole thing. The naos refers to the holy of holies. Okay? Now, help me out. In the tabernacle and in the temple, the people could come into the common court. The priests went into the holy place ministering, but only the high priests went into that most holy place, the naos, once a year, and that not without the shedding of blood. When you come to 1 Corinthians 3, guess what? In 1 Corinthians 3, the Lord God says, "For you are the temple of God," and guess what is used? It is the word naos. It is not heron, the general term. It is the place where God peculiarly and particularly manifests Himself. So in the Old Testament, the peculiar and the particular manifestation of God was in Jerusalem, in the tabernacle, or in the temple later on when it was built. In the New Testament, where is God's peculiar and particular manifestation of Himself? It's in the assembly of His public worship, in the assembly of His people.
#58 | 35:24 to 36:43 | cleaned
We are the naos of God, assembled together, worshiping God. Do you see that? And so God gives us a perfect picture here.
#59 | 36:44 to 36:55 | cleaned
Now my question is this, may I ignore the public worship of God where His peculiar and particular manifestation is by just saying, "Well, I'm out fishing today, I can worship just as good out here. Or I'm out hunting today, I can worship just as good out here." No! No! You see, the truth of the matter is this, folks. When you get to the philosophy, and this is the philosophy not only of civil government, but the philosophy of humanism. When you get to this philosophy, "Well, it doesn't matter where you go to church, just go."
#60 | 36:55 to 37:29 | cleaned
Haven't you heard it advertised? "Go to the church of your choice." No, you better go to where God is particularly and peculiarly manifesting Himself, where He is worshipped publicly, where His Word is preached, where the true worship of God is. And when you say, "Well, it doesn't matter, synagogue, church building, temple, pagoda, it doesn't matter." Listen folks, that's what the ecumenical movement is all about. That's what the World Council of Churches and National Council of Churches is all about. Making all places of worship equal. They're not equal. They are not equal. What did Jeroboam do? He leveled the one true and the living God by cutting Him down to size, by making a physical manifestation of the invisible God. He deprecated the true place of worship.
#61 | 37:32 to 38:33 | cleaned
And thirdly, go back in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 12, if you haven't gone there. Verses 28 through 30. Verse 28, "Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, thy God, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan." Now here's the third thing Jeroboam did. Listen carefully. Jeroboam made it politically, legally, and personally difficult to worship the true God scripturally, and he made it easy and politically expedient to worship his God unscripturally.
#62 | 38:33 to 39:30 | cleaned
Now, I'll tell you this. I'm not going to take time to go there, but if you look in the book of Amos and study the book of Amos, you remember where he put these two golden calves, one at Dan and one at Bethel? Dan was at the northern border of Israel near Syria, and Bethel was at the southern border near Judah. And what he is saying is this. You just go to whichever one is easiest for you to worship. You just go there. Now watch. I told you that he made it politically, legally, and personally difficult to worship God scripturally.
#63 | 39:34 to 40:14 | cleaned
How did he do that? Well, let me tell you something. And I'll show you this from the Bible in just a few moments. It was the king who made these two golden calves. It was the king who chose the places for them to sit. It was the king who ordained the feast. It was the king who ordained the altar. It was the king who made his priests.
#64 | 40:14 to 40:39 | cleaned
Now, if you want to insult the king, if you want to slap him in the face, you ignore his religion and trek on down to Jerusalem. Now, is that politically correct? To do something like that? Well, of course not. And when you study the book of Amos, you will find that he even sent soldiers and guarded the way, and when people tried to go down to Jerusalem to worship, they were killed. What was he doing? He was making it politically and personally difficult to worship the One True and the Living God scripturally. Oh, but you could worship any false god easily because it was sanctioned by the king. I'm going to tell you folks the official position of our judicial system and the official position of our government on freedom of religion. Here it is. You have freedom of religion in this country, which means you're free to believe whatever you want to believe between these two ears, but don't you go out and try to practice anything that you really believe without our approval.
#65 | 40:41 to 42:04 | cleaned
You follow me? That is exactly, exactly what Jeroboam was doing. And you try to serve God biblically. Let me tell you something, folks. You get down to the nitty-gritty, to the biblical application. You try to serve God, and I can assure you, somewhere along the line, a government agent is going to come in and say, "You can't do this. You're not licensed to do this. You don't have our permit."
#66 | 42:05 to 42:29 | cleaned
What Jeroboam did was to make everyone politically correct. And if you were not politically correct, you were harassed, embarrassed, prosecuted, and persecuted. Now, look forward to what Jeroboam did. You'll find this in 1 Kings 12, verse 31. "And he made a house of high places," that is, he made his own temple, "and made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi." So the fourth thing Jeroboam did was this. Jeroboam changed the priesthood from a sovereignly selected group to a politically appointed group.
#67 | 42:38 to 43:24 | cleaned
Who was it that chose the Levites? It was God. Who ordained the Levites? It was God. Who called the Levites? It was God. You remember Matthew 3 and verse 13? On the calling of the disciples, the Bible says, "And Jesus Christ went into a mountain, and He called unto Himself whom He would." He sovereignly selected His own twelve disciples. Now watch this. When God ordained, chose, and called the Levites, that meant then the Levites were His priests.
#68 | 43:26 to 44:02 | cleaned
They were concerned with His will, His Word, His way, His service, His worship. They taught His law. Do you want to know what Jeroboam did? Jeroboam expelled all the Levites from Israel. And now he appointed men that he chose. Men that he called. Men that will do His bidding, men that will promote His kingdom, men that will work for His program, and men that will receive their government subsidies from the King.
#69 | 44:03 to 44:42 | cleaned
Now, look in verse 31, "And He made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi." They were not qualified tribally, that is, they were not of Levi. They were not qualified vocationally. God never called them. And they were not qualified morally. They were the lowest of the people. Do you know what has happened in our land today?
#70 | 44:43 to 45:17 | cleaned
I want you to stop and think about this. Through political manipulation, through political correctness, the church that is the established church is being forced to accept sodomites and lesbians and perverts in the ministry all in the guise of public policy and a non-discriminatory policy. If you don't believe that, you hire an organist and then find out he's a sodomite and fire him and see how quickly you get sued.
#71 | 45:17 to 45:58 | cleaned
So what has happened is this. The sovereignly selected chosen group has now become a hodgepodge of perversion through political influence and control and manipulation. I hope you're beginning to see why God specifically refers to the sin of Jeroboam fifteen times. Here's the fifth thing that He did. Watch this. Verse 32, "And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah."
#72 | 46:00 to 46:37 | cleaned
"And he offered upon the altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made." So here's the fifth thing. Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month that was an imitation of God's appointed feast of Tabernacles.
#73 | 46:38 to 46:57 | cleaned
Now, if you will look in your Bibles, hold 1 Kings 12, but go to the book of Leviticus 23. Now, the Feast of the Tabernacles was in the seventh month. Well, he made his the eighth month. But look at it. Leviticus 23, verse 33. Leviticus 23, verse 33. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord."
#74 | 46:58 to 47:30 | cleaned
And then he goes on to tell them about it. Now, let me ask you, does anybody in here know what the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrating? I say it again. What? That's correct. The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrating when they left Egypt. And what did they do? They built booths for seven days and dwelt therein. What were they celebrating? God's wonderful, bountiful provision while they were in the wilderness wandering. Do you remember that?
#75 | 47:30 to 48:06 | cleaned
How God gave them manna, God gave them water, God took care of them. So the Feast of Tabernacles then was a celebration of God and God's sovereign provision and graciousness to His people. But now what has Jeroboam done? Jeroboam has ordained him a feast like this in the eighth month, and now here we're going to have a celebration of the King. We're going to celebrate His reign, His kingdom, His subsidies, His provision. You see that? Listen to me, folks. When governments play God, they want to be recognized and worshipped as God.
#76 | 48:07 to 48:46 | cleaned
Has it ever dawned on you? We have state holidays, state parks, state recreational programs, state welfare, state Medicare, state retirement, some of us would get a whole host of other provisions. In fact, I have heard people say, "Isn't it wonderful all the things the government gives us?" The government, whether state or federal, cannot give anything without first taking from someone. But now all of a sudden, we think of the wonderful provision of the state, not God's provision, but the government's provision.
#77 | 48:49 to 49:42 | cleaned
Now let me ask you a question. I don't know if this thought has entered your mind. Why would Jeroboam do such a thing? Why would he create calves, institute a different religion, a pagan, idolatrous religion, and force it upon the people? Why would he do such a thing? Well, let's expand the question. Why would any civil ruler do such a thing? Let me show you why. Look back in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12. 1 Kings 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 26. Remember Jeroboam the king. 1 Kings 12 verse 26, "And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah." Why would he do such a thing? Because he knew that God gave the kingdom to David and his descendants.
#78 | 49:43 to 51:07 | cleaned
Jeroboam did not want a reuniting of the kingdoms. Jeroboam wanted to keep that gulf as far as possible. Why? For his own personal advantage. He wished to keep his own position, his own prestige, his own power, his own throne, his own kingdom, his own program. Jeroboam was interested only in himself. Therefore, he made that gulf between Judah and Israel as wide as possible, and he purposefully, purposefully molded his new religion, his state religion, after his own caprice. Now, I want you to see what he did.
#79 | 51:07 to 51:54 | cleaned
You remember I told you, and I pointed out in verse 28, "Whereupon the king took counsel." He did this thing purposefully. He did it deliberately. He did it premeditatedly. Why? Because in doing so, the worship of the people became a political institution. Thus, the kingdom of God became the kingdom of the king. And the sanctuary of God became the sanctuary of the king. Let me show you that in the Bible.
#80 | 51:57 to 52:34 | cleaned
Look in your Bibles to the book of Amos chapter 7. Amos chapter 7. You remember I told you now that Hosea and Amos were contemporaries. They both preached against the house of Israel and both denounced Jeroboam II, that is Jeroboam the son of Joash. And so Amos is preaching in Israel and look what happens. Let's begin reading there with verse 11, here's what Amos is saying. Verse 11, "For thus Amos said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land." So Amos is saying, look, Jeroboam, you're going to be killed, and Israel's going to be taken captive. Watch verse 12.
#81 | 52:35 to 53:25 | cleaned
"Also Amaziah," now this is the king's priest. "Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away from the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there."
#82 | 53:25 to 53:36 | cleaned
Now, this is a veiled threat. If you want to live, you get out of town. If you want to live to eat again, you get out of town. You go back home, boy. Nobody called you up here. Have you ever heard politicians say, "You preachers just take care of the churches. We'll take care of the nations. Don't interfere with us. Go back home, boy. We'll put you in jail." You follow me?
#83 | 53:37 to 54:07 | cleaned
Now, that's exactly what Amaziah is saying. Now, he hasn't finished. He says in verse 12, "Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there." Ah, look at verse 13. "But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court." This is our government's religion. You cannot be against our governmental religion without being against our government. And therefore, he says, you better get yourself home or we'll kill you.
#84 | 54:08 to 54:57 | cleaned
You're not going to destroy... Are you listening? You're not going to destroy the king's religion without destroying the king's kingdom. Now, out of all the kings of Israel, no king of Israel was willing to destroy Jeroboam's religion. None. Not one. Not one even attempted to. Why was there not one king of Israel that was willing to destroy Jeroboam's religion? The answer is very simple. To destroy Jeroboam's religion meant the destruction of the kingdom. It meant, therefore, that they would have to go back and acknowledge that David and his descendants were the true rightful heirs to the throne.
#85 | 54:58 to 55:53 | cleaned
And that they were rebels, that they were tyrants, that they were wicked, that they were ungodly. That everything they were doing was wrong. There was no king of Israel willing to cut his own throat and destroy his own kingdom. Hence, he had to maintain this paganistic Baal worship.
#86 | 55:55 to 56:17 | cleaned
Now, why must America remain a democracy? For the same reason, folks. Do you realize, for our civil leaders to go back to the Constitution, to go back to the Republic, to go back to the Founding Fathers, to go back to biblical principles, is for them to say, "Look, we've been wrong all these years. We've been wicked. We've been tyrants. We've been ungodly." And guess what? All of a sudden now, they're going to lose all of their humanistic, socialistic, welfaristic control, and the people will enjoy freedom. And they'll lose all of their power and all of their positions. And do you think, humanly speaking, any politician, Republican or Democrat, is going to do that? Not humanly speaking.
#87 | 56:19 to 57:23 | cleaned
Now, let me show you. One last passage. Look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 13. Here's the one passage I did not read to you, although I mentioned it to you. And I want you to look at the challenge that Abijah gave to Jeroboam. 2 Chronicles 13. Verse 1. "Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. And he reigned three years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men." So Judah had 400,000 men. "Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valor." So Judah then is outnumbered two to one. "And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is Mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me thou, Jeroboam, and all Israel. Now look what he tells him. "Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?"
#88 | 57:23 to 58:49 | cleaned
"Yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, is risen up and hath rebelled against his Lord. And there gathered in him vain men, the children of Belial, have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. Now look what he says, "And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David? And you be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands, so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods? And as for us, the Lord is our God, we have not forsaken Him. The priests which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business, and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense."
#89 | 58:50 to 59:53 | cleaned
"The showbread also they set up in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof to burn every evening, for we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him. And behold, God Himself is with us for our captains, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you, O children of Israel, fight you not against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper."
#90 | 59:53 to 1:00:17 | cleaned
"But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them, so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. And when Judah looked back, and behold, the battle was before and behind, they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout, and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter." Watch, "...so that there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men." Now here's the point. Israel went so far. There was no turning back.
#91 | 1:00:19 to 1:01:17 | cleaned
The only thing left, the only way now to stop the idolatry and the wickedness was the destruction of the nation. That's exactly what God did. God destroyed them. God destroyed them. God sent the Assyrians and killed thousands, carried the rest into captivity. Do you see the point I'm trying to make, folks? We as a nation, if we do not repent, it may be that we have gone too far and the only way to stop us from our idolatry is the same destruction of our nation.
#92 | 1:01:20 to 1:02:07 | cleaned
Now let me tell you something. Let me encourage you. I don't know what God's going to do. I don't know what He's not going to do. I know what He has done in time past because of what the Bible teaches. But do you realize when God destroyed the nation, He spared a remnant. And that remnant rebuilt. Do you realize God always has His elect? God always has His remnant.
#93 | 1:02:09 to 1:02:39 | cleaned
And we are like that proverbial phoenix that rise out of the ashes of destruction and rebuild according to God's word, God's law, for God's honor, God's glory. I'm going to tell you something, folks. The more wicked, the more unrighteous, the more tyrannical, the more unrighteous the times, the more you better stick as close to the Word of God and the truth of God as you can. The truth is this, folks. If God does not sovereignly intervene in our nation, we're sunk. It takes an act of the sovereign God of heaven and earth.
#94 | 1:02:40 to 1:03:34 | cleaned
Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that You would help us. Enable us, Lord, not only to worship Thee, but enable us, Lord, to stand true, resist all forms and kinds and colors of idolatry, and worship the only one true and living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. We acknowledge, Father, that Thou art our Sovereign, Thou art our Ultimate, and Lord, Thou art our Absolute and only help and hope, and we cry to Thee, give us repentance as a nation, have mercy upon us, bring our hearts back to Thee, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen and Amen.
#95 | 1:03:38 to 1:04:26 | cleaned
Okay.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:03:16Z

Why America Must Remain a Democracy

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver argues that America must remain a democracy because its political leaders, like Jeroboam of Israel, have created a state religion of idolatry and humanism that they cannot abandon without losing power. Using Hosea 1 and 1 Kings 12, he shows how Jeroboam leveled God, deprecated true worship, made scriptural worship difficult, changed the priesthood, and instituted a rival feast—all to secure his own kingdom. Weaver draws parallels to modern America, where civil rulers promote pluralism, suppress biblical Christianity, and maintain control through political correctness. He warns that unless God grants national repentance, destruction may be the only remedy, but encourages believers to remain faithful as God's remnant.

Introduction to Hosea and the Title

We're going to read verses 1 and 2. But primarily, we're just simply going to deal with verse one. So that's Hosea, chapter one, verses one and two.

Scripture Reading — Hosea 1:1-2

"The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord."

The Context of Hosea's Ministry

The Striking Detail in Hosea 1:1

The Sin of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat

The Five Actions of Jeroboam's Idolatry

Now, let me show you one of the reasons why. Look in your Bibles to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 40:18-25

"To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him?"

Now, watch,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 40:18-25

"To whom then will you liken God?"

Do you realize God is unique? There's only one God. There's nothing else like God. So God asked,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 40:18-25

"To whom then will you liken God?"

Now look,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 40:18-25

"Or what likeness will you compare unto Him?"

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 23:33-34

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord."

The Political Motivation Behind Idolatry

Now, that's exactly what Amaziah is saying. Now, he hasn't finished. He says in verse 12,

Scripture Reading — Amos 7:11-13

"Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there."

Ah, look at verse 13.

Scripture Reading — Amos 7:11-13

"But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court."

Application to Modern America

The Challenge of Abijah and the Inevitability of Judgment

Hope for the Remnant

Even in judgment, God preserves a remnant. Weaver encourages believers to cling to God's Word and truth, trusting that God's sovereign intervention is the only hope for the nation.

Why America Must Remain a Democracy

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	12160282917
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: Where We Are & How We Got Here
Genre	Sermon
Date	2002-09-22
Dictation Name
Book	Book 009: Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	96

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction to Hosea and the Title: Weaver introduces the book of Hosea, noting his previous 75-message series, and gives the provocative title: 'Why America Must Remain a Democracy.' He acknowledges the objection that America is a republic, but argues that the republic was lost under Lincoln and replaced by mob-rule democracy.
The Context of Hosea's Ministry: Hosea, whose name means 'helper' or 'savior,' ministered primarily to the northern tribes of Israel during the reigns of four kings of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel. His mission was to denounce Israel's idolatry and warn of coming judgment.
The Striking Detail in Hosea 1:1: Though sent to Israel, Hosea lists four kings of Judah and only one king of Israel. Weaver explains that the Judahite kings were the true Davidic line, while the Israelite kings were illegitimate. Jeroboam II is mentioned to reveal the corrupt state of the kingdom.
The Sin of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat: Weaver identifies the sin of Jeroboam I as instituting calf worship at Bethel and Dan, which God repeatedly condemns as Baal worship. This sin is referenced fifteen times in Scripture, showing its severity.
The Five Actions of Jeroboam's Idolatry: Jeroboam (1) misrepresented God by making golden calves, (2) deprecated the true place of worship, (3) made scriptural worship difficult and his own worship easy, (4) changed the priesthood from divinely chosen to politically appointed, and (5) instituted a rival feast imitating God's Feast of Tabernacles.
The Political Motivation Behind Idolatry: Jeroboam's actions were deliberate and self-serving: he feared losing his kingdom if the people returned to Jerusalem. By creating a state religion, he made worship a political institution, ensuring his own power. No Israelite king would destroy this system because it would mean admitting rebellion and losing control.
Application to Modern America: Weaver argues that American leaders cannot return to constitutional, biblical principles without admitting decades of wickedness and losing their humanistic, socialistic control. Thus, they must maintain the current 'democracy' of mob rule and pluralism.
The Challenge of Abijah and the Inevitability of Judgment: In 2 Chronicles 13, Abijah confronts Jeroboam, declaring that God gave the kingdom to David's line. Despite being outnumbered, Judah prevails because God fights for them. Weaver warns that Israel went so far that only national destruction could stop the idolatry, and America may face the same fate unless God grants repentance.
Hope for the Remnant: Even in judgment, God preserves a remnant. Weaver encourages believers to cling to God's Word and truth, trusting that God's sovereign intervention is the only hope for the nation.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

America is functionally a democracy, not a republic

Weaver argues that the original republic was lost under Lincoln and replaced by mob-rule democracy, making the title 'Why America Must Remain a Democracy' a critique of the current system.

Weaver says, 'Our republic was traded for an empire under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. And our republic has basically disappeared and in its place there has developed a democracy that is mob rule.'

Jeroboam's sin was a deliberate political act

The golden calves were not a spontaneous error but a calculated move to secure Jeroboam's throne by preventing reunification with Judah.

Weaver emphasizes, 'Whereupon the king took counsel... This was a deliberate thing. It was purposeful. It was premeditated.'

Civil government is the primary promoter of idolatry

Throughout Scripture, it is civil rulers who introduce and enforce idolatry upon the people, as seen with Solomon and Jeroboam.

Weaver states, 'If you will study, you will find it was Solomon who introduced idolatry into the land. Here we have Jeroboam the son of Nebat introducing idolatry into the land. All throughout the Bible, it is the civil rulers who are pushing idolatry upon the people.'

Modern religious freedom is a facade

The official position of the U.S. government allows freedom of belief but restricts the practice of biblical Christianity without state approval.

Weaver says, 'You have freedom of religion in this country, which means you're free to believe whatever you want to believe between these two ears, but don't you go out and try to practice anything that you really believe without our approval.'

Political correctness enforces state religion

Just as Jeroboam made it difficult to worship God scripturally, modern governments use political correctness to harass and prosecute those who adhere to biblical truth.

Weaver explains, 'What Jeroboam did was to make everyone politically correct. And if you were not politically correct, you were harassed, embarrassed, prosecuted, and persecuted.'

The church is being forced to accept ungodly leadership

Through political manipulation, churches are pressured to accept practicing homosexuals and other unqualified individuals into ministry, mirroring Jeroboam's appointment of 'the lowest of the people' as priests.

Weaver states, 'Through political manipulation, through political correctness, the church that is the established church is being forced to accept sodomites and lesbians and perverts in the ministry.'

Governments demand worship when they play God

When civil rulers provide for people's needs, they expect recognition and worship, replacing God's provision with state provision.

Weaver says, 'When governments play God, they want to be recognized and worshipped as God.'

Only divine intervention can save America

Given the depth of national idolatry, only a sovereign act of God can bring repentance and avert destruction.

Weaver concludes, 'If God does not sovereignly intervene in our nation, we're sunk. It takes an act of the sovereign God of heaven and earth.'

Scripture References

Hosea 1:1-2: Introduction to the book and the focus on verse 1, listing the kings during Hosea's ministry.
2 Kings 14:23-28: Description of Jeroboam II's reign, his evil, and God's use of him to deliver Israel from Syria.
1 Kings 12:25-33: The account of Jeroboam I's sin: making golden calves, changing worship locations, appointing non-Levitical priests, and instituting a new feast.
1 Kings 16:26: Omri walked in the sins of Jeroboam, provoking God to anger.
1 Kings 16:31: Ahab considered it a light thing to walk in Jeroboam's sins and added Baal worship.
1 Kings 22:52: Ahaziah walked in the way of Jeroboam, making Israel to sin.
2 Kings 10:24-31: Jehu destroyed Baal worship outwardly but did not depart from Jeroboam's golden calves.
Hosea 2:8, 13: God calls Israel's calf worship 'Baal' worship, showing its true nature.
Deuteronomy 4:12-19: God's warning against making any graven image or likeness, since Israel saw no form at Sinai.
Isaiah 40:18-25: God's transcendence and uniqueness make any likeness impossible and idolatrous.
Leviticus 23:33-34: God's institution of the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month, which Jeroboam imitated in the eighth month.
Amos 7:11-13: Amaziah, the king's priest, tells Amos to flee and not prophesy at Bethel because it is the king's chapel and court.
2 Chronicles 13:1-18: Abijah's challenge to Jeroboam, declaring God's covenant with David, and Judah's victory despite being outnumbered.

Historical References

Jeroboam I (son of Nebat): The first king of the northern kingdom of Israel who instituted calf worship at Bethel and Dan, a sin repeatedly condemned in Scripture.
Jeroboam II (son of Joash): The king of Israel during Hosea's ministry, who continued in the sins of Jeroboam I despite being used by God to deliver Israel militarily.
Abraham Lincoln: Weaver claims the American republic was traded for an empire under Lincoln's presidency, leading to the current democracy.
The Assyrian Captivity: God used the Assyrians to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel as judgment for their idolatry, killing thousands and carrying the rest into captivity.

Important Quotes

The Constitution? We don't have time for nostalgia around here.

Illustrates the modern disregard for constitutional principles, paralleling Jeroboam's rejection of God's ordained order.

Through the representation of the invisible and infinite God under the visible and earthly symbol of the calves, the glory of the one true and living God was brought down within the limits of the finite, and the God of Israel was placed then on an equality with the gods of the heathen.

Explains the theological essence of Jeroboam's sin: leveling the transcendent God to enable pluralism.

Before any civil ruler can push idolatry upon the people of God, he must first deny the supremacy and the sovereignty of God, and he must bring God down to the level of all the other gods and make Him equal to every other God.

Connects Jeroboam's strategy to modern political and religious pluralism.

You have freedom of religion in this country, which means you're free to believe whatever you want to believe between these two ears, but don't you go out and try to practice anything that you really believe without our approval.

Highlights the hypocrisy of modern religious liberty, where belief is free but practice is regulated by the state.

When governments play God, they want to be recognized and worshipped as God.

Summarizes the ultimate goal of state religion: to replace God as the object of worship and provision.

To destroy Jeroboam's religion meant the destruction of the kingdom. It meant, therefore, that they would have to go back and acknowledge that David and his descendants were the true rightful heirs to the throne.

Explains why no Israelite king would repent: it would mean admitting rebellion and losing power.

The only thing left, the only way now to stop the idolatry and the wickedness was the destruction of the nation.

Warns that national judgment may be the only remedy for entrenched idolatry.

If God does not sovereignly intervene in our nation, we're sunk. It takes an act of the sovereign God of heaven and earth.

Emphasizes that only divine intervention can save America from its trajectory.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways do modern governments 'level God' by promoting religious pluralism, and how should Christians respond?

[Context]

Weaver argues that Jeroboam's calves brought God down to the level of pagan gods, and that civil rulers today do the same by equating all religions.

[Question]

How does the concept of 'political correctness' function as a tool to suppress biblical truth, similar to Jeroboam's making scriptural worship difficult?

[Context]

Weaver states that Jeroboam made it politically and personally difficult to worship God scripturally, and that modern governments use political correctness to harass believers.

[Question]

What are the dangers of the church accepting state-appointed or culturally-approved leadership instead of biblically qualified leaders?

[Context]

Weaver compares Jeroboam's appointment of 'the lowest of the people' as priests to modern pressures to accept unqualified individuals in ministry.

[Question]

Why is it so difficult for political leaders to admit past wrongs and return to constitutional or biblical principles?

[Context]

Weaver explains that no Israelite king would destroy Jeroboam's religion because it would mean admitting rebellion and losing power.

[Question]

What does it look like for Christians to be a faithful remnant in a nation that has embraced idolatry?

[Context]

Weaver encourages believers to stick close to God's Word and truth, trusting that God preserves a remnant even in judgment.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:41:47Z