First Kings chapter 13. Beginning in verse one, before
Jeroboam became king, he was known as a respected industrious
man. But very quickly after becoming
king, his reputation as being industrious was quickly changed
to becoming idolatrous from industrious to idolatrous.
And we learned here that he not wait too long after his
inauguration to engineer his own man made religious system that
would lead the majority of the tribes of Israel into a level of
heresy that would be so very difficult to recover from.
And all seemed to be going well for Jeroboam and his Kingdom
until we read the 1st 2 words of this chapter, which is the
object of our study tonight. And so we look and read in First
Kings 13, verse one and behold, pause whenever the Bible inserts
the word behold. In any context, it's meant to
capture your attention and to place it on something momentous
or someone significant and the object of our beholding.
In this place, let's read and behold, a man of God came out of
Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel.
Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings.
What is it that the Spirit of God wants?
To shift our attention to? A man of God?
That's the spectacle that we are to look at tonight, a man of
God. And what a sight it is to find a
man of God in a context of so much compromise and anemic
spirituality. It's as though by reading,
Behold, you and I are to sense this relief, this wind of grace,
in this circumstance of dense pollution and declension, we
find a ray of light. We find this man of God, And
what it was then is true in our day today.
It is something to behold, in an age of pollution, of idolatry
and sin, to locate and identify a man or a woman of God.
You know, I looked at this earlier, and I thought to
myself, that could be a title of a sermon in itself.
And behold, a man of God. There needed to be a man of God
at this time, and there needs to be men and women of God today.
And though we're not going to do a sermon about, behold a man of
God, let us relish and admire how the spirit of God puts this
verse together. And behold, a man of God came
out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel.
That's very specific and for a good reason.
This man of God came from the South, from the Kingdom of the
South, Judah, and went N to one of the central places of
idolatry, Bethel. And the reason why that's so
significant is because Jeroboam accomplished a lot.
With his clever mind and wicked heart, he was able to establish
his own religion that mimics so closely the true faith of God
under the Old Covenant. And this man was able to do what
he was able to formulate his own feast.
He was able to create his own centers of worship.
He was able to even recruit his own line of priests.
And and with all of that, you know what?
Jeroboam was not able to raise up a man of God.
Notice that the man of God didn't come from Bethel.
He came from Judah. Do you know why that's
important? Because we learned last week in
Second Chronicles 11 that all those whose hearts sought the
Lord trickled down to Judah. Because Jerusalem is where God
was truly worshipped. So you had the Levites, and you
had those who truly wanted to worship God, who moved South.
And the godliness of the North was so empty, so vacated, that
there was nobody from the northern tribes.
To be raised up to be a prophet, God had to send somebody from
the tribe of Judah. You know what empty religion can
do? Do you know what vain religion
can do? Do you know what worldly
Christianity can do in the context of ministry and local
churches? It can fill up calendars with
events. It can, or it can gather crowds,
or it can perform religious rituals and services.
But I'll tell you what empty religion can never do.
It can never foster men or women of God who are able to be
sensitive to the spirit of God and transmit the pure word of
God. Empty religion can never do
that. It can put on a show, It can
have buildings, it can have impressive, elaborate things.
But what it can never produce is what we see here, a servant of
God sold out for God in tune with God walking with God.
And that's what we find here. Jeroboam could have fabricated
much. He could have done much with his
abilities. But he could never, ever draw
out what came out of Judah, a man who knew God.
And that's what we see here, a man who knew God.
And Jeroboam was about to meet this man of God.
What does this unnamed prophet stumble upon as he arrives to
Bethel? Well, we read it, did we not?
Verse 2 tells us, And the man cried against the altar by the
word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, Thus says the
Lord, Behold, the Son shall be born to the House of David
Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of
the high places, who make offerings on you, and human
bones shall be burned on you. He comes to this altar because
in verse one we read that Jeroboam was standing by the
altar ready to make offerings on it.
Why is that an obscene description concerning Jeroboam?
Why is US finding Jeroboam by an altar ready to make offerings on
it? Something that should be
extremely offensive to us, knowing what the Bible has to
say about altars and sacrifices? Any idea he's not a priest, he's
a king. Yeah, and in his own man made
system, it's totally valid to be able to operate as a king and to
mingle to be a priest at the same time.
But that is illegal according to the mind of God and the law of
God. You will never find legitimacy.
You'll never find divine approval through all the Old
Testament of a king who attempts to operate as a priest.
Never. And whenever it does appear,
whenever any king pursues that it is met with swift and severe
discipline. The only exception is what we
studied in Second Samuel when we found David who was operating as
a priest and his sons were also designated as priest.
And if you want to know the deeper explanation behind that,
then find that in Second Samuel, I believe Chapter 8, where that
is described in greater detail and we expound upon that and
there's good reason why it's tolerated there.
Apart from that you'll never see it.
Do you know why it was wrong for any king to become a priest?
Any idea why was that hybrid position never to be entertained
or engaged? Then here's the answer.
Because it was reserved for one person only.
It was reserved for one person only.
In the Bible predicts that there would be one who would be on the
throne and he would also be a priest.
And the person who fulfills that office is the Messiah.
And the Messiah is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
So to attempt to operate in that role is to rob God of his
prerogative in the person of Jesus Christ, this elite, for
one person and one person alone. No one is ever able or tolerated
to entertain that same position. So this is what Jeroboam is
doing. He's king, but he's also
functioning in the office of a minister.
And now we see that this man of God in verse two does something.
He comes to this scene and he flashes in the surrounding of
abominable apostasy and he has a message to declare.
And interestingly, who did he speak this message to?
Look at verse 2 again and tell me who he's speaking it to the
altar. He's not speaking to Jeroboam,
is he? He's not speaking to the false
priest, is he? Can you imagine the sight?
Can you imagine me speaking to this, oh, pulpit, pulpit.
That'd be kind of strange, right?
But it's on purpose. The message is intentional.
The delivery is just as intentional.
But in speaking to the altar, not only is he calling out how
this is wrong and evil and he's he's highlighting the object of
a fence, but it's almost that. There is an indirect message in
the way that he is proclaiming this message.
It's as though Jeroboam has become so hard of hearing.
Though he was privileged to help himself to receive a
personalized message from another prophet at a previous
time, he's become so hardened, so spiritually death, so
indifferent, that God doesn't even honor to addressing him
directly. He speaks to the altar as though
to say these stones that you've gathered and put together have a
greater willingness of hearing what the word of God is than
you, Jeroboam, that's a rebuke. That's a rebuke.
And what we're about to find out by way of miracle is that this
altar in fact does respond to the word of the Lord, and
Jeroboam doesn't. What this prophet is going to
declare about this altar, the altar submits to, and here's
this man who's created in God's image, who still is stubborn.
So this is a stark contract between an inanimate object and
a person with flesh and blood created in the image and
likeness of God and stones are more willing to testify and obey
than a than a man. And you know what came to mind
when I looked at this when I thought about this?
A statement that Jesus made in Luke's version of the Triumphal
entry. We studied that a couple weeks
ago. And I want you to see it with
your own eyes because Luke adds a detail that Matthew and Mark
does not include. It's in Luke 19.
Turn to the New Testament. Look at this with me in Luke 19
verse 39 and 40. Where Jesus enters into the holy
City and the crowds are going crazy, there is ecstasy, there
is excitement, there is praises, almost deafening praises.
And who's there? The poor and pitiful Pharisees.
And they're so overwhelmed by what's happening, they can't
control it and all they can do, You can almost sense how
helpless they are. They can't deal with the crowd,
they can't control the roarings. So they look to Jesus and they
say this in verse 39, and some of the Pharisees in the crowd
said to teacher rebuke your disciples.
They're asking you to save them and deliver them.
They're declaring and providing you accolades and messianic
prophecies. And look what Jesus said, he
answered. I tell you, if these were
silent, the very stones would cry out.
Can somebody give me a one sentence explanation of what
Jesus meant by that? Anybody.
Anybody want to give a try? Here's how most people
understand this. If people will not give God the
praise, if people will not give Jesus the honor, then the rocks
will have the honor and the joy of doing it right.
In other words, Jesus saying if people will not acknowledge me,
nature will acknowledge me. I will not go without exaltation
and acknowledgement for who I am, right?
These people won't praise, Then these rocks will praise, and I
believe that's part of it. But I believe that there is
something else being conveyed here.
I believe another layer to understanding what Jesus meant
here is missed by most. What does he say?
I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would
cry out. Most understand this as
hyperbole. Most understand this to be just
a poetic way of making a statement.
But it's very likely that there's another way of
understanding this. A double layered meaning
perhaps. Perhaps when Jesus says that
these stones will cry out in the midst of the silence of the
people to mean something else than crying out songs or
accolades, That the crying out here is not about joy but about
judgment. Not that if the people won't
praise, then the rocks will fill in the void, but if the people
will not praise, then the rocks will cry out and condemn the
people. And this imagery of something
even like this in an eminent object being a witness or
testifying against the faithlessness of the people is
not foreign. Jesus didn't introduce it for
the first time. It's throughout the Old
Testament. So let's do this together
because we're in Bible study. So open your Bibles and go to
Joshua 24. I want to make this case in
Joshua 24, verse 27. This is at the end of the book
of Joshua and the nation of Israel, where is ready to enter
into a new season where the leadership of Joshua was coming
to an end. And so Joshua provides this
final exhortation for the people to remain faithful beyond his
lifetime. And this is what he says near
the end of his sermon. And Joshua 24 verse 27 We read,
and Joshua said to all the people, behold, this stone shall
be a witness against us, For it has heard all the words of the
Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness
against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.
So he wrecks the stone, and metaphorically speaking, says,
this stone heard what I said to you.
It heard you saying, Yes, we agree we will remain faithful to
God, and so it stands as a memorial and as a testimony, and
as a witness against you. Then whenever we look upon it,
we remember we made a commitment to God.
And if we fail to honor that commitment, the stone is here to
remind us you're walking away from what you said.
Here's another interesting passage in Habakkuk.
Go to the prophet Habakkuk in Chapter 2.
And here's another clear connection that perhaps even
Jesus had in mind when he made that statement in Luke 19.
So he's describing a series of sins, and the Prophet says this
in verse 11 of Habakkuk chapter 2.
For the stone will cry out from the wall and the beam from the
woodwork respond. Why?
Why will the stone of the home cry out?
Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on
iniquity. So you get to have this imagery
where when people are walking in darkness and in sin, you have
these objects, these furnishings, these materials,
who will in a sense call it out. They are in a sense witnesses of
it. They will speak out against the
injustices and in this context, a specific injustice, violence,
violence being committed. So I'm making a case, you're
very briefly that it's possible for this imagery, for this
proverbial thing of stones crying out in the context of
judgement. And here's Jesus saying, if
these people will not praise, then these stones will cry out.
And at this point in Luke chapter 19, the stones were
silent. Do you know why they were
silent? Because the people were praising
the people where crowning Jesus with their honor, at least to a
certain degree. But here's my question to you.
You know this very well. Did their praise persist?
No, no, no. In the very same week, a very
few days later, their praises of Hosanna were replaced with
hisses of crucify him. And when the Lord of Glory was
hanging, suspended in the air, drinking the cup of God's wrath
and coming to the final moments where it would be finished and
it still is finished today, did we forget Matthew's depiction
and description of what was occurring around that holy site?
Let me remind you in Matthew 27, you need to turn there to see it
with your own eyes. Matthew 27 and verse 50, Matthew
27, verse 50. And Jesus cried out again with a
loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top
to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.
This is the case I'm making the rocks.
The stones eventually did cry out.
They were silent when Jesus entered, but when the people
were violent, who committed the worst act of violence known to
human history? The Rocks testified.
The rocks split. Do you think Rocks split
silently? And I'd like to see this as a
connection to what Jesus said earlier.
If these people will not acknowledge me for who I am,
then the rocks will testify about who I am, but will also
testify against the people for condemning the wrong one and
from removing the crown that he deserves and placing a crown of
thorns instead. Here are the rocks crying out
and now we come back to our main text of First Kings 13 and we
see this altar. This altar would also cry out.
And we see here the deafness of Jeroboam.
And guess what? It's a warning to us.
Jeroboam's stubbornness is a call to you and I to be careful
that we do not become indifferent and irresponsive to
the word of the Lord. And let me show you a text that
tells tells exactly that. And Psalm 32, verse eight, you
don't have to turn that. Listen to this very carefully.
It's a very known Psalm, and this is very known passage of
Scripture. And Psalm 32, eight, the Psalm,
it says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should
go. I will counsel you with my eye
upon you. And then he goes on to say, be
not like a horse or a mule without understanding which
might be curbed with bit or bridle, or it will not stay near
you. So we have to connect those two
verses. Here's the psalmist.
Now speaking as a teacher, some would say speaking on behalf of
God. God saying I will teach you and
I will guide you. Whichever way you go with, it
still applies, still applies. With this principle, I will
teach you. I will instruct you.
And the primary way that God instructs you and I is through
what He has revealed. His word, His law, His
commandments, His promises, His warnings, and He's beckoning.
This is the means. This is the way in which I will
protect you and lead you and prosper you.
And then He follows it up with a warning.
As always, say, if you will not take heed to my instructions, if
your heart is not tender and soft to the word of the Lord
being declared over you, or as you discover it for yourself.
Don't be like this by refusing to uphold the word of God with
such authority in your life. Be not like a horse or a mule.
Horses and mules can be stubborn animals.
They can be obstinate. They can be difficult.
Like most animals, they have the tendency to move ahead when you
don't want it to go anywhere and when you actually wanted to
advance. They sometimes are rock hard and
stay in place and to the displeasure of the owner and to
the unpleasant experience of the beast.
Oftentimes what's needed is an instrument that may cause pain
and discomfort in order to get that beast to its desired
location or destination. And the Psalmist takes that
analogy and he applies it to us and he says, listen, if you're
not willing to take heed to the word of God, you know, like
getting distracted when the word of God is being declared and and
and thinking that it has no relevance to you.
And and not having that trembling before the Lord and
not having that desire to hear from Him.
If you are, if you're there, you're opening yourself up to
God, implementing and employing a different means to guide you.
And just like a bit or a bridle, it's not fun when he does it.
The parallel to the bit and the bridle is afflictions, painful
trials, loving wounds. To get you to where you need to
be, to keep you in the place that you need to be, or to bring
you back on the track that you abandoned.
So here's the warning. When you begin to feel that
hardness of heart, when you get bored with the Bible, right,
when you feel, when you are able to not grasp what's what's being
said, what's being read, what's being shared, what's being
counseled, you're opening yourself up to a different
delivery in your life. If you're truly a child of God,
If you're not a child of God, one of the worst things that can
happen is God leave you alone. But if you do belong to God and
he's trying to get your attention and guess what?
Here's Bible study and God is speaking loud and clear because
His word is opened. And here are circumstances, and
here are phone calls of people. And here are things happening in
your relationship where the Word of God keeps coming up.
Principles from the Word of God. You keep dismissing you keep
dismissing it. God in his love is ready to put
a bit and a bridle on you, and he's ready to harness you to try
to get you where you need to be. It doesn't have to happen that
way. It doesn't.
The only trials and and afflictions and seasons of
testing you want is while you're walking in obedience, not when
you are not sure yourself. Or you are sure that you are
lukewarm and you are careless and you are coasting along
without that tenderness and longing for God's word to
dominate and drive your life. And so we see Jeroboam here.
He's become so hard into the word of God that now this altar
is being addressed in his presence.
And then a prophecy goes out. Here's the prophecy.
You read it with me, O altar, Altar.
Thus says the Lord. Behold, a son shall be born to
the House of David Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on
you the priests of the high places who make offerings on
you, and human bones shall be burned on you.
This is a profound prophecy for two reasons, #1 because it is a
powerful rebuke to Jeroboam, #2 because it is so precisely
accurate in its prediction. So here's the rebuke.
Jeroboam was promised by another prophet that if you are faithful
to me, I will give you a promise like what I gave to David.
You will have descendants occupying the throne for
generations to come as long as you remain faithful.
And now, after a season of disobedience and ignoring God
and pursuing idolatry and leading others into that same
way of life, a prophet comes and he says your altar.
This thing that you set up and invented, it's going to be
desecrated. And do you know who's going to
desecrate it? One of David's sons.
You know what you're saying? I'm preserving David's dynasty.
I'm ready to put an end to yours.
And so powerful is this rebuke that God, in his wisdom and in
His Holiness, even names the person who's going to do it.
It's not common for God to name people in prophecy when it's
about to when it's going to happen far down the road from
when it was declared. And that brings us to the second
point, the power behind. This is how precise this
prophecy is. Josiah comes on the scene as a
king 3 centuries after this was prophesied.
Can you imagine that just a little bit over 300 years this
was declared Josiah, a son of David as a king will fulfill
this very word that was declared by this unnamed servant of God.
So let's rejoice at the supernatural reality of the word
of God and turn to 2nd Kings 23 and see the fulfillment of it.
You know skeptics and and theological liberals are so
appalled by this that they believe that an author inserted
this after the fact and not 300 years before.
No matter how much evidence you give to some unbelievers, they
will try to explain it away because they love darkness that
much. Second Kings 2316.
And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount.
And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them
on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the
Lord that the man of God proclaimed.
Who had predicted these things? Can you imagine that 300 years
after God said he would do what He would do?
And it happened. Some of us forgot what we ate
three days ago. Some of us forgot what we ate
this morning. God doesn't forget His word.
He said it, and he'll remember it as though he just said it 300
years after it was declared. So this is the fulfillment of
it. This is what's so powerful about
this message. But we have to continue, right?
Look at verse three of First Kings 13 And he gave a sign the
same day, saying, This is the sign that the Lord has spoken.
Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on
it shall be poured out. And when the king heard the
saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at
Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying,
seize him, and his hand, which he stretched out against him,
dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.
Like many of the miracles in the Bible, God often authenticates
his message through the supernatural.
Some demonstration, some manifestation of the
unexplainable, so that the hearers of the Word can say This
has been surely authored by God. This message stems from the
heavens, and this demonstration is just that.
It's a confirmation that what the man of God just said was
going to happen. But not only was it a
confirmation to the prophet's word, it was another blow of
mercy to that callous heart of this king, something that would
collide with the ice in his chest.
And what was the response? Right.
Some people believe that if we just have more miracles, people
will be more susceptible to believing.
Not. So here's a miracle, here's a
miracle ready to happen. Here's a sign.
And this man, all he had to do was step back and say, OK, this
is from the Lord, let's see this altar break in two.
I want to see the ashes pour out instead.
He doesn't even wait for the sign to be performed.
He's so filled with rage at the word that was declared that he
raises up his hand points at the man, and surely there was others
around him. And he said, seize him, seize
him. So the word and the miraculous
that's about to take place didn't soften him.
It hardened him. It didn't bring him to his
knees. It caused him to raise his hand.
And when I looked at this and I meditated on this, I thought to
myself, what does this teach you and I?
Because obviously he was disturbed by the fact that he
heard that David's dynasty is going to overrule his dynasty.
And here's what you and I have to remember.
Faithfulness to God's Word does not promise favorable responses
from men. Faithfulness to God's Word does
not promise favorable responses from men.
This man was faithful. This man travelled to the north.
This man listen in the presence of the king who had the
authority, as he's about to show, to try to kill someone.
If you disagree with him who had all the armies, all these
soldiers, all the weapons against one man, this is
faithfulness. And look at the response.
Even when this faithfulness was was going to be backed up with a
miracle, this was the response. So that you know this right?
The scriptures tell us that over and over again.
Here's another reminder. Do not discount your
faithfulness because of the lack of faithful response.
You know what I'm reminded when I read this?
A verse. I open my Bob.
I'm like, I I know this. This is something an Amos here,
and it's an Amos 5-10. You don't have to turn there,
but just listen to what Amos declares in 5-10.
They hate him who reproves in the gate and they abhor him who
speaks the truth. You know what it doesn't say?
They hate reproving in the gate and they abhor the truth.
It doesn't say that. It says they hate him.
It says they abhor him. You know what a whore means?
Disgust. Not just with the message, but
with a messenger. There are people who hate the
truth so much that if you live the truth and tell the truth,
they will hate you. You.
Yeah. Your heart is filled with love
because you know the truth sets free.
You want to see other people know the freedom and the gospel,
but when people hate the truth, expect to be hated with it as
well. And listen, this man was
faithful. Notice what he says here in
verse four. And he gave a sign that same
day. And they described a sign.
And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which
he What's the word here? Which he cried.
When you read earlier when this man of God did come, it says he
cried against the altar. You know what may be the
temptation of a man of God who's stepping into enemy territory
with a king who has in the snap of a finger the power to
eradicate your life, probably to lower your voice as much as
possible. You're still going to say it, to
be faithful, but you want the least amount of people to hear
what you have to say. Oh alter, alter, this is coming
upon you and just I did my part, Lord, and back off.
Is that what he did? No, he was not concerned who
heard or who didn't hurt. He actually wanted as many
people to hear as possible. He cried.
I'm not going to do it now.
I think I'm loud enough, so I let your imagination go.
There. He cried.
Here's this worship service that's taking place.
And this man, this true prophet of God, comes and he heralds
this truth. Unashamed, unafraid, filled with
courage. And though the faithful response
would not be guaranteed, here is your guarantee for faithfulness
of the word of God. You win God's favor.
You may not win a favorable response, but every single time
you secure God's favor upon you. And how God manifests his favor
depends from situation to situation, person to person.
Really, God will get the most glory out of it regardless.
And in this case, God brings divine intervention, divine
defense. We see here that the invisible
hand of God stays the hand of this king.
And now this. This King's hand is frozen in
the air. It can't move in any there.
It's almost pathetic, right? Like what's more simple than me
doing this with my ligaments and muscles?
And now here's this king with all the supposed power, with
this great mind, hard work, and he can't even move his finger.
And it's for all to see. And when you look at this, you
think this is remarkable. You see that the word reaches
his ears, doesn't humble him. But when God touches his body,
it awakens desperation. Look at verse 5.
The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from
the altar according to the sign that the man of God had given by
the word of the Lord. Can you imagine that?
Just imagine it. Here's this King sees him and
his hand is frozen and right. In that moment the altar breaks
open and the King's feet is buried with ashes.
And you would think, right? You would think, OK, this altar
split in two, maybe Jeroboam's heart will split in two.
Let's read verse 6. And the king said to the man of
God, entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for
me, that my hand may be restored to me.
And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the King's hand was
restored to him, and became as it was before.
So obviously embarrassed, probably frightened.
This is supernatural. I can't.
I can't bring my hand back. I can't move it forward.
I can't point to my men. I can't do anything.
And so in this place where now he becomes like a little child,
this is, this is just to remind you and I that the very power
you have to sit, where you're sitting to get up at the end of
the service, to get in your car, to get a snack before you go to
bed, to wake up the next day and open your eyelids, All of that
is ordained by God. Even this, you can't do it
without God. You can't move your nostrils if
God doesn't permit it. So here's this man who can't
move his hand, and he is so paralyzed with a mixture of
emotions and the only thing that comes out of his mouth is
listen, please ask your God to do something about this.
Please entreat him. Do something for me here.
You know why I find this so fascinating?
It contradicts what this man said in the previous chapter.
Like if I was, if I was a guy that bought into the idolatry of
Jeroboam, I'd be like, there's something off with this guy.
There's something off with all of this.
Like that should have been the moment where the tribes realize
who the true and living God is. Don't tell me that this doesn't
make headlines after it happened.
Frozen Hand. Here's a king who introduces
golden calf worship again to the people of Israel.
Let's look back at what he said when he brought this idolatry
into the land, something that's never been known since the days
of Exodus. First Kings 12.
Look at verse 28. At First Kings 12.
So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold, and he
said to the people, you have gone up to Jerusalem long
enough, Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out
of the land of Egypt. Now if you said, behold your
gods, OK, but you didn't just say, behold your gods.
You said, behold your gods who delivered you, Behold your gods
who saved you. Behold your gods who redeemed
you. You know what comes to mind when
I know that Jeroboam said this? Hey Jeroboam, why don't you call
out to your golden calves and see if they can help you?
Now you told everybody else that these gods saved them in the
past and that, OK, if he was able to save him from Egypt,
surely he's unable to save you from your hand coming down.
Why don't you call up to your gods now?
He doesn't. What does he do?
He entreats The Lord, He asked The Prophet.
Hey, listen, can you intercede for me?
Now put yourself in the sandals of the Prophet for a moment.
Here's this guy who who essentially would ruin the
spiritual health of this nation, not just in this time, but for
generations. Like this is serious.
This this would split the narrative.
This would split the story of Israel's relationship with God
and their witness to the world until they're exile.
What would you do as a man of God who had the backing of God's
supernatural power behind your ministry at this moment?
Entreat. Entreat.
Please, please do something. Well, that's what you get for
worshipping golden calves. Enjoy that for a few days and I
might be back on another trip. And let's let let just marinate
in this for a moment, Jeroboam, and learn your lesson, and then
I'll come back for you. OK?
All right. See you later, guys.
You see what happened to you? Golden calves.
All right. And he could have went back his
merry way. He could have made a statement.
No, he doesn't do that. Look at the rest of verse 6.
And the man of God entreated. The Lord in the King's hand was
restored to him, and he became as it was before.
What do you have in this declaration and demonstration of
judgment? Mercy.
Mercy is reigning. So you have these clouds, right?
Coming over Jeroboam's life, Jeroboam's future.
And with those clouds come raindrops of grace.
God didn't have to do this. Now you might be sitting there
thinking, Why did God do this? If there was anybody who
deserved to stay like a statue for at least a few hours, it was
Jeroboam. Let him sit in the consequence
of sin for a little bit. Do you know why God does this?
Because yes, He attempts and he, with his perfect power and
wisdom will try to draw you back with His chastisement, with his
discipline, with his rod. But mercy is also his instrument
of drawing you to repentance. Grace is also a means by which
God softens. The heart of the worst of
sinners doesn't always have to be a near death experience.
It doesn't have to be you. In a tragic accident or overdose
or something horrific for you to wake up, sometimes what wakes
you up is undeserved. Grace is a gift from God is that
despite all this, God still comes through, and still
provides and still saves and still rescues.
That's what we're seeing. You're seeing the multifaceted
ways of God. He can Thunder his judgment and
wake you up, drawing you and snatching you out of the fire
with fear. But he can also melt your heart
with his embrace and his warm mercies.
So here's this man who has his hand lifted up, and the moment
he asked for God to do something about it, it falls down because
God heard his plea. What do you do with that?
Here's what you do that you worship him.
You stand in awe of him. You sent this prophet to rebuke
this man, and with this man just cried out for help.
You were willing to bring aid to him.
This is the IT bothers me. It bothers me so much when
unlearned people who who read a few blogs on the Internet say
that the God of the Old Testament is not a God of mercy,
or that the God of the New Testament, the person of Jesus
Christ, is God in a better mood and God in the Old Testament for
years is in a bad mood. You do not know your Bible.
With all the respect, here's a God of mercy with a man who has
caused so much havoc and destruction and still willing in
the moment he cries out for assistance.
God gives it, God gives it. But don't be fooled to think
that Jeroboam's plea here is an indication of true repentance.
This is not a cry from a penitent heart.
This is a cry of a man who wants to escape punishment.
Yeah, And here's what we're supposed to learn from this.
Pay very close attention to this.
This is a picture of a Sinner who wants the blessings of God
but not God. This is, let me put it this way,
There are millions of people, millions of people today who
want salvation. Millions that get your
attention, hold your breath. Salvation.
They want salvation. Salvation from poverty,
salvation from sickness, Salvation from loneliness.
But not salvation from my sins. Not salvation from my
disobedience. Not salvation from my heart and
heart that hates God's law, that wants to be my own God.
Not that kind of salvation. There are 1,000,000 upon
millions, maybe billions, of people who want salvation, but
from discomfort and from a hard life and from trauma and from an
abusive environment who want what God can give but not God
himself. That's what Jeroboam is
showcasing. Here, give me my hand back.
You know what he's asking Here, Look at this.
This is this powerful imagery. He wants his hand to be
restored, but not his heart. He wants his hand to be revived,
but not his heart. Oh Jeroboam.
No. Jeroboam has a picture of so
many who even come to the Saints of God from time to time, who
trickle in through the doors, never seen them before and all
are welcome. And they just, you know, they'll
come up to the preacher and say I'm in trouble, I need some
help. My children are like this.
My spouse is like this. My business is like this.
They want God to answer a prayer, but they don't want to
surrender to God. That's what Jeroboam is
illustrating. And so God in his mercy still
does it though. Isn't that amazing?
Saying why?
Why? I wouldn't do it.
God, they're not willing to. They're not.
The heart is not in the right place, but perhaps in God, doing
something, though they don't deserve it, will win their
hearts. I thank God I'm not God.
I'm sure you feel the same way. I hope you know what the Bible
does say about God's mercy more than anything else.
He's more merciful than you and I.
That's what God's mercy, from cover to cover, teaches us.
Let's read the rest of this. We're almost done.
We're not doing this whole chapter.
If you were worried that we were verse 7 And the king said to the
man of God, come home with me and refresh yourself and I will
give you a reward. And the man of God said to the
king, if you give me half your house, I like this guy a lot.
If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you, and I
will not eat bread or drink water in this place.
For so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord saying, you
shall neither eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the
way that you came. So he went another way, and did
not return by the way that he came to Bethel.
We're not sure about Jeroboam's motive here.
We know his reputation enough that he's a he's a bad guy.
And we learned that his plea for help here was not truly from a
repentant place. So if you have flags raised up,
you have every right. If you have concern of this
invitation, don't judge yourself and do be hard in yourself.
You have right to be suspicious about Jeroboam's invitation
here. We're not told why he's doing
this. Maybe there's just a spontaneous
gratitude that he's able to restore his hand.
His hand is now back to normal and he just wants to show some
surface level honorable gesture to this prophet and to just have
him over his house. Regardless, this man of God has
received 2 instructions from the Lord before this even happened,
Unnamed unknown God spoke to this man.
He says. Listen, when you go, I want you
to also fast. When you go, I don't want you to
eat there. I don't want you to drink.
I don't want you to eat. And that makes sense.
That is an obvious application to us, is it not?
The picture here is that if the prophet were to come with such a
strong word against this idolatrous people, namely the
idolatrous leadership, and he has found eating and
fellowshipping with him, that muddies the testimony, does it
not? And you know where this goes in
our context, right, of not being unequally yoked with people.
I'm not associating with those who know the truth and still
resist the truth and pursue disobedience and rebellion
against God. We as the people of God have a
mandate to disconnect ourselves from continual fellowship with
such people for many reasons, and one of them is this, that
you would not be tempted. There's the testimonial aspect.
There's all of that too, but in this case it's obvious.
Don't eat, don't trigger them. But here's another important
point in the call of not being yoked with those who do not walk
in the direction of the ways of God, You can be unequally yoked
and still be kind and loving to such people, saying, what do you
mean by that? Well, didn't he, didn't he
intercede for him in verse six? Right.
Didn't he say, entreat the Lord for me?
And we're told here, and the man of God entreated the Lord.
So being separated from the world doesn't mean that you
scorned the world, disowned the world, disdain the world, hate
the world. No.
Here's a man who prays for this individual.
Here's a man who lovingly is willing to stand in the gap for
him, but we're still willing to not associate himself with him
and partner with him and be mistaken with him.
That makes sense. That's called balance in the
Christian life. That's called the wisdom from
God. To know how to navigate with
relationships and family members.
Enough what we show them that we love them and care for them.
And also enough to say I don't agree with what you do because
I'm a Christian. Don't eat or drink.
Clear. What's unclear, not so clear is
the second instruction. I've been told by God not to go
the same way I came in. I have to take a different Rd.
I have to change my directions on the GPS.
Can't go back. We're not told why that was the
case. We're not given a lengthy
explanation, or any explanation, really.
And perhaps that's on purpose, because God doesn't owe us every
single explanation behind every single command.
He gives us enough to know that every command is for his glory
and for your joy, but not every single instruction he gives
needs a reason behind it, at least extensively.
And so perhaps God giving this instruction to this unnamed man
of God was to simply win the aroma of obedience in a land
filled with disregard for his word.
Son, don't go back the way you came in, OK?
Just trust me on that. No explanation given.
OK, you told me to do that. I'm not going to do it.
It's as simple as that. Simple obedience.
And that is especially necessary to remember in times where you
know the word of God and you're in a situation where it
perfectly aligns or calls for that step of obedience, but it
may not seem relevant or may not seem helpful.
In those moments, trust and obey.
Tell me why, for there's no other way.
It's the best way. Trust and obey.
Why can't I'm hey, man of God? Why can't you go back the way
God told me to? That's enough for me.
God told me to, OK, And so this man's willingness to obey God in
this way would be a final rebuke before turning his back on this
king and his men who have so disobeyed God, they are now
staring at a man who obeys God. Something happened to me in my
Bible study, in my personal study of this, these first 10
verses, and Joel was there. Obviously she can testify to
this. I'm coming near the end of the
Bible study and I noticed something.
I noticed something, I thought to myself, ah, that could have
been a whole Bible study on its own.
Do you know how many times the title man of God appears in the
1st 10 verses? That's why.
Because I, you know, you're reading it, you're reading and
you're looking out. OK, what about this altar?
What about it opening up. Oh stones.
Jesus talked about stones. Who testify and witness.
You get caught up in all these things.
And then I just step back and I said, I've been reading these
verses and all that keeps coming up is man of God, man of God,
man of God, man of God, man of God.
Seven times in 10 verses. We don't have his name.
Now he could have been referenced by or identified as
so many other things. So one might just explain this
way simply saying, well, this is just to identify him.
He's a man of God. We don't know his name, so he's
a man of God. But again, out of all the ways
you can describe somebody, the high honor of being referred to
as a man of God, I believe there's something else in here.
It's not just to give us a way to identify the man.
Perhaps even in these 10 verses, we have the traits of a man, of
God. We have some of the elements of
what makes up a man of God. Not all of them, but some of
them. And I I was like, maybe we
should do that for the Bible study.
Maybe look at this 7 verses of what this man of God does and
doesn't do. Maybe there's something here
about what a man of God is. And here's here's how this
minister to me, because I'm far, too far deep into everything
else to go in that direction now.
So I have homework to do, and maybe that's something you can
look into. Here's the Here's how I'm ending
it. Isn't it amazing how in one
passage God can speak in so many ways?
That's what I took out of it. It says, do I got a nudge today,
little nudge. You can look at this text in a
completely different way and it's still be faithful to the
text. And I just, I was getting ready
and I was just like worshipping the Lord and just thanking the
Lord for the Holy Spirit for just giving that.
Not enough for me to change the whole thing, but enough for me
to say you can look at the 10 verses of this chapter and get a
completely different Bible, say completely different sermon, a
completely different set of truths.
My book is unlike any other. So that's what I leave with you
in the ending of this. And maybe one day you'll get a
sermon about what a man of God looks like according to First
Kings chapter 13. Maybe not.
But before I go into that Bible study, I'm going to end it so
that you and I can go home. Let's pray, worship the Lord
with me. Please honor him with me
tonight. Please bestow upon him the
exaltation that he deserves. Lord, you are mighty.
You are awesome. Your word is greater than any
other spoil that can be found, any other reward that can be
achieved, any other experience that can be purchased or
realized. Your word is our joy.
It is our light. It is our sustenance.
It is the window by which we see you.
And we rejoice in your word tonight.
Thank you for nourishing our faith tonight.
Thank you even reminding us that we can never exhaust the Word of
God. Then when we feel like we have
mined a certain cave of the Word, there are other layers yet
untouched. There are depths not yet
reached. There are pieces of gold and
silver not yet uncovered. Lord, your Word is unimaginable
in the sense that we can't fully grasp it.
And, Lord, if anybody ever comes to the point where they think
they have a grasp on it, Lord humbled them to realize that can
never be so. And if any person is bored with
the word of God, Lord, infuse them with the revelation that
your Word is your voice and that you're You have preserved this
Word, and you have designated this Word to be a lifelong
supply of truths and treasures that can keep us stable and
satisfied until we see you face to face.
What a word this is. What a book this is, what an
author you are. We acknowledge you today, Lord.
We cannot help but burst out and praise for your Word.
And so we give you the glory that is due to your name.
Revive us to the Word. Revive us through your Word.
May there be a revival of the Word in the land again.
Oh, we long for it, Lord. So open our eyes to see just how
glamorous and brilliant the Word is.
We thank you for this portion that you have provided us today.
Help us be men and women of God. Help us, Lord, be men who are
able to speak the truth despite the lack of response.
Help us be men who also, yes, Thunder the truth, but like this
man, were able to demonstrate grace and mercy and forgiveness
and help to the center. Help us be men and women of God
that were regardless of the command you give, whether it is
clear to our context or not. We say He said it, so I will do
it. Help us be men and women of God.
We love you, Lord, we worship you.
We adore you. You are the true and living God
and Lord. We know that one day you will
expose the foolishness of idolatry and man's innovations,
and if you don't do it in this life, you will do it on that
final day where everything that has been in your place by
unbelievers will be exposed as nothing.
Thank you that we walk in the truth.
Keep us in the truth, lest you have to put a bit or less.
You have to put a harness on us and force us, or painfully
redirect us. We want your word to be enough,
to be our guide and our compass in life.
We give you thanks. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Amen.
The more I study this book, the more Psalm 119 becomes a reality
to me. I want to challenge you to
something as the Prestine comes up.
Read Psalm 119. OK.
It's all about the Bible. It's all about sentiments and
emotions and realities and promises that come from knowing
the word of God. And here's what I want to
encourage you to do. If you can't resonate with the
psalmist in Psalm 119, get on your knees before God and beg
him for the insight that that psalmist has with the Bible.
Beg him. If you can't read that, be like,
I get that. Oh yeah, that's what I said.
Oh yeah, that's what I feel. Oh yeah, that is true.
If you can't get there, get on your knees with that chapter
before your face. Say God, please.
I want Psalm 119 to be something I can quote and say.
This was not just true of him, it's true of me.
Do it. If you mean it, watch the Holy
Spirit do it. This book will come alive.
You will see things in this book and you will hear the teaching
voice of the Holy Spirit in a way that Will Rock your world.
You got to get desperate though. And unfortunately so many people
are satisfied with entertainment.
You know, I heard a preacher say one time, this might offend a
lot of people. So be it.
Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy.
If your life's joy is in trivial things that man produces, you
have not tasted of the wells of life in God yet.
I'm not against fun. Some people believe fun is sin.
Some believe it tastes good. If it feels good, if it looks
good, then it must be of the devil.
It's called legalism. I'm not in that camp, and nor
will I would be by the grace of God.
But I'm saying that there is something that this world can
offer that no matter what is given to you, even if it's good
and joyful, you give God glory for it because you see him as
the source, the stream that it comes from.
But if your life is just one adrenaline rush to the next that
you have to pay for, or you have to travel to, or you have to
gain, you have not yet known the joys of what God offers.
And I'm saying open Psalm 119. Crack that chapter open.
Get before God and say God, make this real to me, the word, the
Word, and he can do it. If you guys don't start singing,
I'll keep preaching. So let's stand and sing and
worship the Lord.