1 Kings 13 (Part 1) Bible Study (A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Kings chapter 13. Beginning in verse one, before

1 Kings 13 · chapter mention

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

Luke 19:39

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

Joshua 24:27

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,

Joshua 24:27

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.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

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

Luke 19 · chapter mention

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

Matthew 27:50

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.

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?

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

1 Kings 13 · chapter mention

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.