Regarding the patriarch Abel, the Record states: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” Like this man Abel, many continue to “speak from the dead” through the lives they lived and the legacies they left. One such individual’s “speech” was and is not commendable at all. It was not true of him while he yet lived; and, it was not after his death. That individual is the first king of the northern tribes of divided Israel–to wit Jeroboam. Of this man the Scriptures speak of “the sins of Jeroboam” no less than fourteen times (KJV). He cast a dark shadow over the reign of each king of Israel. His sins (and the fact that all of those who followed him walked in them) were a prime cause of Israel’s going into captivity (1 Kgs. 14).

“The Sins of Jeroboam” were:

  1. He Changed the Object of Worship (1 Kgs. 12:28)
    1. Is. 44 (Idolatry)
    2. Acts 17:19
    3. Cf. “Mariolatry;” Pope; Pleasure; Business; etc.
  2. He Changed the Place of Worship (1 Kgs. 12:29)
    1. “Is it too much for you?” (1 Kgs. 12:28)
    2. Has God asked “too much” of us?
    3. Bethel was in sight of the Temple Mount
    4. At times, two pillars of smoke of sacrifice rising at the same time
    5. Beware of religion made easy
      1. Eph. 4:21 (“in the church”)
      2. Can we change the place where God has put things?
      3. In any “church?”
      4. In nature?
      5. In a fraternal order?
  3. He Changed the Priests of Worship (1 Kgs. 12:31)
    1. He did not respect God’s law of silence
    2. Catholics and Mormons change the priesthood
    3. 1 Pet. 2:5, 9
  4. He Changed the Time of Worship (1 Kgs. 12:32)
    1. What about Saturday (the true Sabbath of old)?
    2. Can we change the time of the Lord’s Supper to Saturday?
    3. May we change the Lord’s Supper to a monthly matter?

Conclusion

The last words spoken regarding “the sins of Jeroboam” are these: “…Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day” (2 Kgs. 17:21b-23).