GAP Chapel – 12.11.24 (Revised Transcript)
But he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.
2 Chronicles 12:14
All right, good morning. Let’s turn to Second Chronicles 10. I want to give you all a couple of insights into the test of the heart. There are two parts to this series. The first is the test of the heart. In this first week, we’ll see the strong or too-strong heart; in the second week, we’ll see the weak or too-weak heart.
And so, on this one, we will look at Rehoboam to lay the foundation for the first part, which is a heart that is too strong and a test of the heart. And that’s what God is always doing. Whenever God raised up David, he raised him up not because he was magnificent according to our standards but because his heart sought the heart of God. And so in Psalm 27:8, David said, when You said, seek My face. David said, my heart said to You, Your face, the Lord, I will seek. And so, as Christians, we ask God to give us that kind of heart to seek His face.
In this first week, we’ll examine several topics. First, what leads to a strong heart? Second, what happens after a heart is too strong? Third, we’ll still see God’s mercy even with a too-strong heart. Then, we’ll see how Christ’s sacrifice on the cross offers us a right heart.
Let’s turn to 2 Chronicles 10. What do we know about Rehoboam? We see a couple of things. Number one, his name means that the people are enlarged. And it’s fascinating that he is the son that will divide the kingdom. So, it went from an enlarged people to a paradox, essentially a great people to a divided people. And we’re going to see that. We’re going to see how it happened. So look at 10:1. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. So, what do we know instantly about Rehoboam? He has been given, as ordained by God, the right to rule. He’s coming into power. It’s a united kingdom.
And so here he is before Israel, now made king. At the same time, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, leaves Egypt to come to Rehoboam as he hears about his rise to power. He comes to Rehoboam to reduce the workload that Solomon, Rehoboam’s father, had placed on him and his workers. Incidentally, Jeroboam’s name means the people will contend. Isn’t that interesting? The people will enlarge encounters the people will contend. One is coming in from Egypt, and the other is from Jerusalem. And there will be a test. Who will Rehoboam tap to answer Jeroboam’s request?
Look at verse three. They sent and summoned him. When Jeroboam and Israel came, they spoke to Rehoboam and said to lighten our load and make our work easier. Make it easier. What does Rehoboam do? We know the story. What does he do? He creates two boards to help him make a difficult decision because this is huge. This has geopolitical consequences. This has implications across the entire nation. And so he says, Okay, I’m going to form a committee over here to make a decision or help me make a decision, and then a committee over here. The first committee is the elders, and the second is his peers.
Now, we tend to think that elder means age, which certainly does in many cases, but it also means what? It implies age and wisdom. The implication is wisdom, essentially, and then also experience.
Then you have the peers as a youth by implication. What does that mean, inexperience? And so you have two people set up, or two committees, two boards, two groups set up to counsel this new king that’s coming into power again.
What is God doing? He’s testing hearts, constantly testing hearts. Will your heart be like the heart of your grandfather? Or will it be like the heart of the one previous to your grandfather, Saul, which we’ll see next week? And so we see Rehoboam’s heart. Look what he says in verse eight; he forsook the counsel of the elders. He went with the counsel of the youth. What happens? Look at 10:19; Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. So, a civil war ensued. Right here. The Great Divide took place.
Here in 2 Chronicles 10 in the history of Israel, separation occurred. So what led to that? What leads to division? Think about this in your own heart. You are making decisions when you’re considering what’s next in life, and you’re thinking about seasons. What are the motivations for that next step? Then, ask Rehoboam the same question: What’s his motivation? Why didn’t he go with the elder’s council? Why not choose the council of the elders? Why not go with them? Why select the council of the youth? Did they tell him what he wanted to hear?
And so you’re faced with this, and so am I, constantly in seasons of life when you’re looking ahead and making decisions. What are your motivations? Well, it’s going to reveal something. Your heart will be shown. You will be disclosed. And that’s what happens here. But it doesn’t happen in the way that we tend to think. Look what happens in chapter 11.
Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built cities for defense. What does that tell us about Rehoboam? At least he’s capable. He’s a builder. Have you ever thought about real estate development or city planning? Have you ever thought about zoning? You see these apartments going up. Have you ever wondered how did they go up? Go ahead, start building. No. What happens? You must work with the city. You must work with architects, engineers, environmental specialists, and people to make that property what it is today. Building something is extremely difficult.
Rehoboam is capable. He’s a wise individual. He’s strong in that sense; he’s capable. Well, look at verse 11. He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them, in stores of food, oil, and wine. He’s a military thinker. He’s aware of the defenses needed so that when the onslaught of the enemies comes, he withstands them. I mean, this is so good so far, right? This is a practical guy. He’s really good. Look at verse 13, where the priests and Levites in Israel stood with him from all their districts. So, he has the support of the religious community. He’s a builder and a military thinker; now, he has the religious people together. And then what happened?
Look at 12:1 when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong. And here’s your first point. What is a heart that is too strong? You have succeeded in life, if you will. You’ve accomplished your goals. You’ve reached the pinnacle of whatever vocational career you desired. This is Rehoboam. When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, he was set, established, and firm. His defenses against the enemies that come are sure. What does he do?
He forsook the Law of the Lord. See that right there. We saw this coming with his first choice. So, here’s a heart that is too strong. He had capabilities. He had great instincts to position himself in this geopolitical climate with strength. But what was missing? A heart to follow God. So, it’s important to remember that you can excel, and so can I in all the horizontal things of life: your careers and relationships, and they could be just how you want them. This is really important to remember about success. You may also be surprised that God has allowed a world where people can succeed who are evil just because they know how to do certain things. It’s called common grace. You’ll see those people succeed, but are they succeeding in the ultimate things?
As you’re going into the new year, coming into the second half of GAP, think about when you get out of GAP. When you’ve reached the pinnacle of your relational desires, educational goals, and vocational interests, you’ve reached that desire and established yourself. You’ve given yourself a name void of trust in God. That is when, when a heart is too strong, a heart is revealed. So look at 12:14. He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. So, where did Rehoboam go wrong in the first instance? We are told he did not start with a heart set on God.
Contrast this with Ezra in Ezra 7:10, which says that Ezra had set his heart to study the Law, practice it, live it, and then teach it in all the land. So what established Ezra? Before Ezra was established in front of the people, a heart was set on God. So the question is, for us, the application is, what are we setting our hearts on? See what I mean?
And again, y’all choosing discipleship right now indicates that you’re setting your hearts on the right things. However, we all know there are distractions even during this season, and then, most certainly, there will be distractions whenever you get out of GAP. What are you setting your heart on today? What are you setting your heart on for the end of the year coming into Christmas? What are you setting your heart on as we enter 2025 into the new year? Just ask yourself that question. Evaluate: what are you setting it on? Because you will succeed in something.
This leads to our second point: What’s the result of a heart that is too strong toward God?
This is the second point. What happens when a heart becomes too strong? Well, look what happened in 12:2. It came about in King Rehoboam’s fifth year because they had been unfaithful to the Lord the Shishak, king of Egypt, who came against Jerusalem. Now, look what Shishak does in verse nine. He came up against Jerusalem and took what? How much of the treasures? He took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasure of the king’s palace. He took everything. So, think about David building a stockpile of treasure. They had come, the Israelites, from Egypt with a stockpile of Egyptian treasure. Look at this irony here.
Solomon had done everything with the temple, including crafting these golden shields. And who comes and takes these treasures and shields away? Egypt isn’t that interesting. So God is returning, in a sense, the plunder that Israel took. Why? Because they didn’t follow God’s heart, the Law of the Lord, and essentially, God’s Law.
For Rehoboam, the Law was just a good standard. It wasn’t the way back into fellowship with God. His heart was too strong. He didn’t need God. And that’s the point when your heart is too strong. You don’t need God. You act like you do, you present like you do. But in the end, when you have been established and settled, your heart is revealed in that moment.
Let’s make an application to y’all. When you leave GAP and get the desired job, you get the relationship you want. Are you still seeking God in his heart, through His word, and in prayer? If you’re not, then you can expect bitterness and your joy to be robbed, and you will be unable to see struggles as God’s means to grow you into the image of His Son. On the other hand, the way you know if your heart is still seeking Him and it’s not too strong is that no matter how strong you get, no matter what position of power you have, your heart is still bent low, seeking the face of the Father, and that’s what the Christian whose heart is soft does.
Now, how do we have that heart? How do we have the heart? This is our third point. There’s a promise and a little glimmer of hope. God’s mercy! In verse 12:6. What does it say? They humbled themselves. So what is that indicating that though they have a strong heart? At least, there is still an inclination to see God for who He is and to see themselves rightly for who they are, which represents and is manifested and expressed by a humbling of themselves.
Now look at verse seven: when the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah saying, they have humbled themselves. Look how many times that word is used, humbled themselves. When God saw that, they humbled themselves and repeated; this makes Me move. This is what is making Me move.
So, what moves the heart of God? What moves the hand of God? What brings God to your aid? Is it a too-strong heart that has established itself like Nebuchadnezzar and says, “Look what I have created?” What happened to Nebuchadnezzar? He became like an ox feasting on the grass. He was humbled because he became elevated in his own eyes.
What happened here in 2 Chronicles? What do we see? What happens? Rehoboam is capable. He’s very strong, and he excels in geopolitical matters. He establishes the kingdom, and his heart is revealed in that moment. In the moment of his strength, his heart is revealed, and what happens? He forsakes God, but then what happens? There’s a humility. God sees it. However, here’s an implication. This is important: there are still consequences for that strong heart. Even though he repented, he faced the consequences of his previous actions. Nevertheless, as Christians, we can still have hope.
What’s the hope we have as Christians? Let’s go to John 6:15. Consider just for a minute that John the Baptist declared that the Messiah had come, the suffering Servant, the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sins. Christ is teaching. He’s teaching. Crowds are gathering. He’s healing people that come to Him. If you are humble and you come to Christ, He hears you. If it’s a child, a lady, or a man, it doesn’t matter if you have a humble heart; Christ hears you and responds. People are gathering. He’s not commandeering; He’s not marketing. He’s not putting out His name. People are gathering. Look at verse 15.
Jesus perceived that they intended to come and do what took him by force, to make Him king. What did He do? He slipped away. He withdrew to the mountain by Himself alone. What was Christ rejecting? The horizontal strength that man offers. He is the ultimate example for us.
And so, listen to this. This is the gospel application. Christ goes to the cross in weakness on the horizontal plane. Peter says, “You will not die. It’s not going to happen to you.” Yet, Christ goes to the cross as a sacrifice, dying for our sins. He goes to the cross weak, not strong in our eyes, but strong in God’s eyes. It was the only thing that would give real strength to a too-strong heart. That’s amazing. Think about that. He goes to the cross. That’s a weak, weak move.
Peter says, “Never will that happen to you on the horizontal plane.” But, on the vertical plane. In the eyes of God, it’s the only thing to give us who have too-strong of hearts, a heart that is humble, perennially, perpetually humble, constantly, consistently humble. So our hope, and this is gospel application, is that because Christ, in the eyes of man, became weak, because He did that, we can have true strength by grace, through faith in Him, so that whether I succeed and reach all the pinnacles of my desired success, all the apex of all that I want to achieve, relationally, emotionally, vocationally, in any realm or sphere, at that height, I can still have a humble heart, because Christ was humbled Amen. Amen.
— December 11, 2024