downward spiral

1. Gospel Baptist Tabernacle
1
781 Salem Road, Rossville, GA 30741
Where the Love of God
abounds, everyone is
welcome.
www.rossvillechurch.com
Children’s Church taught
by Paul and Marsha Davis
during preaching.
11-23-2014

2. 1 Kings 16 1 Then the Word of the LORD came to
Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, …
The prophet Hanani warned King Asa in Judah
2
against his pride and neglect of the Lord.
Remember: Asa was at war with Baasha, but instead
of turning to God in prayer, he figgered it out.
He turned to Benhadad, king of Syria for help.
Now, Hanani’s son, Jehu, prophesies
against Baasha in the north.

3. 1 Kings 16 1 Then the Word of the LORD came to
Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,
2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and
made thee prince over My people Israel; and thou
hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made
My people Israel to sin, to provoke Me to anger
with their sins;
3
Even though God raised up Baasha to execute
judgment upon Jeroboam,
Baasha was just as sinful as Jeroboam had been.
His sins will not be overlooked.

4. 4
God called Israel “My people” here in
spite of their backsliding.”
Even though He was angry with them for their sins,
God did not disown them.
He still loved them and dealt with
them as His children.
Hebrews 12 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth
with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the
father chasteneth not?

5. 3 Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha,
and the posterity of his house; and will make thy
house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
4 Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs
eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the
fowls of the air eat.
Baasha’s sin was as wicked as Jeroboam, and his
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judgment was the same as Jeroboam.

6. 5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he
did, and his might, are they not written in the book
of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 6 So Baasha
slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and
Elah his son reigned in his stead.
Baasha reigned for twenty-four years,
6
and yet very little is written of him.
Insignificant!

7. 7 And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son
of Hanani came the Word of the LORD against
Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil
that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking
Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being
like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed
him. 8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of
Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over
Israel in Tirzah, two years.
7
Luke 17 1 Then said He unto the disciples, It is
impossible but that offences will come: but woe
unto him, through whom they come!

8. 9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots,
conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah,
drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza
steward of his house in Tirzah. 10 And Zimri went
in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and
seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in
his stead.
What was he doing when he died?
8
Drinking himself drunk.

9. 9
Elah is given to us as a warning
against drunkenness.
Death easily comes upon men when they are
drunk. Besides the diseases which men bring
themselves into by drinking, when in that state,
men are easily overcome by an enemy, and liable
to bad accidents. Death comes terribly upon men in
such a state, finding them in the act of sin, and
unfitted for any act of devotion; that day comes
upon them unawares.
Matthew Henry Concise Bible Commentary

10. 11 And it came to pass, when he (Zimri) began to
reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew
all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that
pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor
of his friends. 12 Thus did Zimri destroy all the
house of Baasha, according to the Word of the
LORD, which He spake against Baasha by Jehu the
prophet, 13 For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins
of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by
which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the
LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.
10

11. 11
14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he
did, are they not written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Israel? 15 In the twenty
and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri
reign seven days in Tirzah.
Seven days and dead!
Zimri slaughtered Elah and all of his family:
Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles – everybody.
God was using him as a weapon, but he did
not see himself as God’s servant.

12. 15b And the people were encamped against
Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.
16 And the people that were encamped heard say,
Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king:
wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the
host, king over Israel that day in the camp.
Zimri killed Elah and the whole family of Baasha,
12
and declared himself king of Israel.
But he was not accepted as king.

13. 17 And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel
with him, and they besieged Tirzah. 18 And it came
to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken,
that he went into the palace of the king's house, and
burnt the king's house over him with fire, and died,
19 For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the
sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of
Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make
Israel to sin. 20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri,
and his treason that he wrought, are they not
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Israel?
13

14. 21 Then were the people of Israel divided into two
parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of
Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri.
22 But the people that followed Omri prevailed
against the people that followed Tibni the son of
Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.
Treason, revolution and chaos.
14
Sin is to blame for it all!

15. 15
23 In the thirty and first year
of Asa king of Judah began
Omri to reign over Israel,
twelve years: six years
reigned he in Tirzah. 24 And
he bought the hill Samaria
of Shemer for two talents of
silver, and built on the hill,
and called the name of the
city which he built, after the
name of Shemer, owner of
the hill, Samaria.

16. 16
25 But Omri wrought evil
in the eyes of the LORD,
and did worse than all that
were before him. 26 For he
walked in all the way of
Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, and in his sin
wherewith he made Israel
to sin, to provoke the
LORD God of Israel to
anger with their vanities.
We talked last week
about the downward
spiral that Israel was in
after the nation split.

17. 17
Jeroboam
Nadab
Baasha
Elah
Zimri
Tibni
Omri
From 931 BC until 874 BC
Israel had seven kings,
Each progressively worse
than the ones before.
Each of them had opportunity
to repent from sin and to live
as God had taught them to live.
But they each and every one walked
in his own way of terrible sin.

18. Acts 10: 34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said,
Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of
persons:
God will receive every one who comes to Him in
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the Name of Jesus repenting of sin.
Their background, or family, or race matters not.
God will also execute judgment upon every one
who sins and will not repent.

19. We each choose for ourselves how we live.
When we choose to walk obediently in the Way of
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God, we are blessed with joy and peace.
When we choose to walk stubbornly and
rebelliously in our own way of sin,
God deals with us accordingly.

20. Psalm 1 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of
sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But
his delight is in the Law of the LORD; and in His
Law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also
shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper.
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21. Psalm 1 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the
chaff which the wind driveth away. 5 Therefore the
ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor
sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For
the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but
the way of the ungodly shall perish.
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