[advance to: The Menu said “No Substitutions” - part 2]
     Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break, my name is George Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined us today.  I really hope that you have your Bible handy and also a pen and paper so that you can take some notes and check out what is said this morning.  One of the saddest excuses that is going to be heard on judgement day — “but the preacher said” or “this man told me.”  We need to check out what anyone tells us and use the Bible as our only guide and standard for what is right and wrong.  As we begin this morning let’s go to God in prayer:

Almighty God in heaven, we come before You humbly this morning.  We are so thankful for the moisture that has come over the last couple of weeks.  We pray also for those who have suffered loss because of the hail and wind and tornadoes.  Help us to know that this world is not our home.  And that we need to prepare ourselves to be eternally with You.  Thank You so much for Jesus and the sacrifice that He made for us on the cross.  And we pray in His name,  AMEN !!

     We are so used to going to a restaurant and ordering things our way.  I’ll have my steak medium rare with sauteed onions.  Some eateries even advertise that you can “have it your way.”  I’ll take my bacon double cheese burger with ketchup, onions, pickles, and extra mustard.  We as Americans love buffet-style eating because we can pick and choose what we want.  I’ll take some of this and this and a bunch of that.  No, none of those, thank you.  Rarely, but occasionally, you will find a restaurant that has on its menu NO SUBSTITUTIONS.  In other words you get it the way they want to do it and no other way.  I say rarely you’ll find these because most people will not go to this type of place very often.  Now all this having it your way is all well and good when it comes to food.  But there is a real problem when we approach religion in this way.  Often when it comes to God’s will for our lives we desire our own way over His way.  As a result, many have made substitutions in God’s arrangement of things.
     Consider Jeroboam with me.  On this morning’s program and again next week, Lord willing, we will look at some lessons we can learn from him.  Read with me 1 Kings 12:25-33

   25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there.  And he went out from there and built Penuel.
   26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
   27 “If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah;  and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
   28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem;  behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
   29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
   30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
   31 And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.
   32 And Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar;  thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made.  And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
   33 Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart;  and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.

     Jeroboam did not want Israel reuniting with Judah so he developed his own religion to replace God’s.  The Bible says, “Now this thing became a sin” (1 Kings 12:30). What substitutions did Jeroboam make and what lessons can we learn from him?  This we are instructed to do in Romans 15:4

   4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

     First of all, Jeroboam substituted the place of worship.  Instead of the people returning to the temple at Jerusalem, altars were set up at Dan and Bethel 1 Kings 12:27-29

   27 “If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
   28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem;  behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
   29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

     Today, God has a temple as well, we see in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 that the temple of God is His church.

   16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
   17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

The “you” that Paul is writing to here is a plural pronoun.  It is referring to the church in Corinth as a group.  The church is the temple of God.  Over in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul also refers to individual Christians being the temple of God.  Just like Jeroboam replaced God’s temple so long ago, men have replaced God’s temple… His church… with denominationalism, cultism, and spiritualism.  Jesus promised to build “His church” in Matthew 16:18, when He spoke to Peter,

   18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.”

It is to this church that God adds all the saved, as it says in Acts 2:47

   47 praising God, and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Paul also writes that Jesus is the “head” of His church in Ephesians 1:22-23

   22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
   23 which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.

And that He is the “Savior” of the church in Ephesians 5:23

   23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

It is important to note that in each of these it is referring to the “church” singular, not to “churches” plural.  This is not a smorgasbord where we can pick and choose what religion we want and them expect the Lord to be pleased.  God’s menu… the Bible… teaches NO SUBSTITUTIONS.

     The second point we want to consider today is that Jeroboam substituted the priesthood.  God ordained the sons of Aaron and the other Levites as priests as we read in Numbers 3:5-10

   5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
   6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.
   7 “And they shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.
   8 “They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.
   9 “You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.
   10 “So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death.”

But Jeroboam consecrated men to be a priests from every class of people, we read of this in 1 Kings 12:31

   31 And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

The priesthood was up for grabs by whoever wanted to be a priest, we see this in 1 Kings 13:33-34

   33 After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people;  any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places.
   34 And this event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth.

     There is a priesthood in the New Testament church, but it is not the priesthood or clergy of man-made religions.  From Scripture we see that every Christian is a priest.  Two places this is taught is in 1 Peter 2:9, where Peter speaks to Christians and says,

   9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

And in Revelation 1:5-6 where John writes to his fellow-Christians and says,

   5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.  To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood,
   6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father;  to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.  Amen.

As priests Christians offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.  Peter writes of this as well in 1 Peter 2:5

   5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

In addition the Hebrews writer says in Hebrews 13:15-16

   15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
   16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

     Like Jeroboam did years ago, many today try to substitute other priesthoods, but as we read concerning Jeroboam, God will still hold those guilty of this accountable for sin. Acceptable religion in God’s sight is not a pick and choose buffet, it comes with a bold warning – NO SUBSTITUTIONS.

     That is all the time we have for this week.  I hope that you will be able to be with us next week as we consider this very important lesson.

[advance to: The Menu said “No Substitutions” - part 2]