The Man of God

As we continue looking in our series here talking about transitions and as the children of Israel

transitioned from a united kingdom to a divided kingdom as God had put forth because of

the sin of Solomon and we're going to see here as this kingdom had stood for a 120 years under

Saul and David and Solomon and we see that was divided in the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam

and as we saw those things come to play just as God had prescribed to that and the kingdom

separated you know it was not just a political fracture you might say but it was also a religious

and spiritual fracture that happened within the kingdom and we're going to see that as we're

going to look tonight and from chapter 12 we saw that Jeroboam had established a religion

of his own.

We saw that Jeroboam had set up an altar, he had set up his own priesthood, he had set up

all those things that pertain to his religion.

Remember he had the two golden calves that he made and he established those and he put

one at Dan and the other one at Bethel and he established his time frame and the feast

that he was going to promote and those things and remember he also replaced the Levites as

priests and put in those that he wanted.

And instead of what God prescribed he did what he wanted to do.

And so we saw Jeroboam doing these things and we're going to pick up tonight and see God's

response to Jeroboam and what took place in that because if you remember God told Jeroboam

what?

He said, Jeroboam if you will follow me I will establish you a kingdom like unto David.

And we talked about that.

That was a pretty powerful promise that God made to Jeroboam.

He said, Jeroboam hey if you do follow me and keep my commandments I will establish you

a kingdom as sure as David's kingdom.

And we understand that the kingdom of David is still being fulfilled today as we're going

to see here and understand.

But we saw that the Levites were replaced.

And this caused something in the land of Israel because we saw, you know we talk a lot about

migration today and people moving.

Well it caused a mass migration in Israel when all this took place.

Because we saw there earlier and you can look over into the book of 2 Chronicles, keep your

finger there in 1 Kings.

But 2 Chronicles we're going to look over here for a moment because we need to understand

and get back here a little bit in our thoughts on this.

But we see in 2 Chronicles chapter 11 in verse 13 it says,

2 Chronicles 11 · chapter mention

And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their

coasts.

And for the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem.

For Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office under the

Lord.

In other words, Jeroboam did what?

He shut down the worship to the Lord.

He shut down those things of worshiping the Lord.

In verse 15 it says,

And he ordained him priests for the high praises and for the devils and for the calves which

he made.

And so we know that he had in chapter 12 there of 1 Kings that he had established himself

as even the priest of his new kingdom, of the new things he wanted.

And so as we find here, we're going to pick up tonight in 1 Kings chapter 13 in verse

1 Kings 13 · chapter mention

1 here tonight.

And we see here it says this,

And behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel.

And Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense and he cried against the altar the word of the

Lord and said,

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, as we look here tonight, Lord, as we take a few moments to look into

your word, Lord, as we see the importance of this picture that we're going to see here

in this chapter here tonight, Lord, of even the application for us today, not only of just

practical daily things, Lord, but also just a warning even to us also to understand the

importance of having these things in perspective.

And so, Lord, as we look at these things tonight, pray just challenge and courage and strengthen

as we're here in your word here this evening, Lord.

And we just give you all the praise in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So we see here something very important here because 1 Kings chapter 13 brings out a very

1 Kings 13 · chapter mention

new individual on the scene.

And he's referred to as just the man of God.

The man of God from Judah comes to Shiloh where Jeroboam is worshiping his new calf that

he had built and with his new priests and he's there performing those things.

And so the man of God that brought the message reveals something important here.

And he reveals to us to stand in obedience.

You know, we need to understand that we need to stand in obedience to the Lord.

Because I want you to understand this would not have been an easy thing for him to do when

the Lord came to him and said, hey, I want you to go up to Shiloh.

And this Jeroboam, the king, just made a new religion that cast me out.

And I want you to go to confront him.

Now, when you think about that for a moment, that doesn't sound too enticing, does it?

You know, to have the Lord tell you, hey, this is what I want you to do.

I want you to go upset the king that's already struggling in establishing his kingdom.

I'll know about you, but that's not the one that you volunteer for.

But we find that the Bible tells us that God came to this individual.

We don't know who he is.

The Bible doesn't reveal his name.

We know nothing about him as an individual except for his description.

He was a man of God.

When it comes to Scripture, that's probably about the best phrase you can have for you.

You know?

That when God writes about you, he says, here's a man of God that's willing to go up and be obedient

unto what I've said.

And so we're going to see here this stand of obedience here first because Jeroboam, remember,

he had chose to turn away from the promise that God had made him.

Instead of trusting in God, he trusted in who?

He trusted in himself.

He trusted in his advisors.

He tried to do things his own way because, remember, why did he set up a new religion?

Because he didn't want the people going back to Jerusalem.

He didn't want them to go where they would continue to worship God the way that God had

instructed.

Instead, he forgot that God told him it'll be okay.

You know, we get in trouble oftentimes because what God tells us to do doesn't match up with

what our mind or the world tells you that looks good.

Because logically speaking, to send your people to another nation to worship is probably not

a good move.

But God said it was going to be okay if he trusted him.

But Jeroboam instead turned his back on God, which brings this clear and quick rebuke from

the man of God that comes.

He came from Judah, which reveals that he stood for the Lord.

How do we know this man also definitely stood for the Lord?

Because he wasn't in Israel because those that trusted the Lord, those that wanted to serve

the Lord migrated where?

Second Chronicles tells us what happened, doesn't it?

It says all the priests and the Levites and others that wanted to serve the Lord moved to

Judah, moved around Jerusalem.

And it made an impact even within their society.

Notice here in verse 1, it says,

Behold, there came a man of God out of Judah, notice that next phrase, by the word of the

Lord.

He arrives at Bethel to deliver a message to Jeroboam about Jeroboam and the altar that he

had made.

And he cries not against Jeroboam, which is interesting here because he doesn't directly

confront Jeroboam, he cries under the altar that's being sacrificed on.

And we're going to see here that God uses this as an illustration and uses this to make

his point because in doing so, we're also going to see very clearly that Jeroboam understood

what was happening.

By Jeroboam's response, he understood exactly what was taking place.

He understood what was happening because we're going to see here.

Notice in verse 2 again where he says,

O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David,

Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burnt incense

upon thee.

Now you think about, here's a man of God, he's going to go and he's going to declare unto Jeroboam

and he's bringing a message and it's so clear and it's so concise because I want you to understand

he says that there's going to be this one born in the lineage of David by the name of Josiah.

Now if you're a history buff, this is interesting because it's 300 plus years before Josiah shows up.

God names him by name that Josiah, the king of Judah, will come and break down and destroy

this altar and even burn the priest's bones upon it to do away with it.

And we find here that he's very clear with that.

And let's go over and just take a quick look.

Look over in 2 Kings for a moment because 2 Kings chapter 23 is where this takes place

2 Kings 23 · chapter mention

and is recorded for us over here in 2 Kings chapter 23 and down in verse 15.

2 Kings 23 · chapter mention

And we see this and the Bible tells us this, it says,

Moreover the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat

who made Israel to sin hath made both the altar and the high place he break down,

burned the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove.

And Josiah turned himself and as Josiah turned himself he spied the sepulcher

where there was a mount and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchers

and burned them upon the altar and polluted it according to the word of the Lord

which the man of God proclaimed who proclaimed these words.

So in other words it was fulfilled exactly as the man of God described it was going to take place.

It was laid out in detail for them.

And we see also though that there was also an immediate sign that was going to be given.

Because, you know, as people what do we do?

When somebody comes and, if somebody would come and make a statement like that

what would be your response?

I mean you would look at them like, okay, you know,

how does this impact me right now?

You know?

And oftentimes that's the way we think.

But God wanted to get his attention because here we find,

as you read on down through here,

in verse 3 it says,

He gave a sign the same day saying,

This is a sign which the Lord has spoken.

Behold, the altar shall be rent and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

In other words he says,

Just so you know I'm serious,

the altar is going to break apart here in a few minutes

and all the ashes in the altar are going to fall out.

Now because you've got to stop and consider,

what were altars made of?

Stones.

So the idea of it just suddenly falling apart

and all the ashes falling out of it

was kind of another one of those things.

Like, okay, really?

I mean you could look at Jeroboam

was probably looking at the man of God saying,

Hey, you're done dude.

This is just foolishness.

Because notice Jeroboam's response to this.

Because in verse 4 it says,

And it came to pass when King Jeroboam

heard the saying of the man of God

which cried against the altar at Bethlehem

and he put forth his hand from the altar

saying, Lay hold of him.

Now I want you to see what happened here

because when he points to the man of God

the Bible tells us that his hand dried up

and he couldn't draw it back.

Do you think God has attention about now?

I think it's pretty clear he had his attention.

So the altar, but I want you to see here,

verse 5, it says,

And so we see here that God is making it very clear

of what's happening.

When Jeroboam points to say,

Arrest him,

his hand dries up and he can't draw it back.

Well, when we read through here,

you'll find that it changed Jeroboam's attitude

a little bit.

I don't know about you,

but that would probably get your attention

and my attention too.

And he cries out to the man of God

and says,

Plead with your God to heal me.

Now I think this is important

when the man of God is being obedient

to the things of God.

I think there's some things we can learn here

because we're going to see here

the man of God's reply to him.

Look at verse 6,

And the king answered and said unto the man of God,

Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God.

Now that's important too

because Jeroboam didn't say,

My God.

He said, Thy God.

God had sent a prophet to him earlier

directly telling him what was going to happen

if he made a choice to follow God.

And we can see here that Jeroboam made a choice.

His choice was to reject God.

But he still understood that God

had some power behind what he was saying.

Notice here.

And it says,

And pray for me that my hand may be restored me again.

Now I want you to see here

as an obedient believer,

as an obedient person of the Lord,

there's always something we're going to see here

attached to obedience.

Because sometimes we can be brutal in obedience.

We can be so thus saith the Lord

we miss the other side of the equation.

Because I want you to see something here

very important is the man of God

didn't mock Jeroboam.

He didn't tell him he deserved what he got.

He had mercy

upon him.

The Bible tells us that he humbly pleaded with God

to heal Jeroboam.

He had mercy

that was there.

When we realize

that the spirit of the man of God

and the spirit of God's people today,

we need to understand

that while he came with authority from the God

to proclaim judgment upon the altar

of rebellion,

he also came humbly and compassionately

towards them also.

In other words,

the man of God's heart

wasn't hard towards Jeroboam,

even though he had a hard message.

He had compassion upon him.

Because when you consider,

the man of God

could have very easily

turned around and walked away.

But I think it's important

to see that God is always merciful.

God holds us to account,

but God is also merciful.

And he wants his people to have mercy.

And mercy upon him.

And we see here this,

he came humbly and compassionately.

And when Jeroboam desired mercy and healing,

the prophet mercifully besought the Lord.

The Bible says that he prayed.

You know, remember back over in James chapter 5,

James 5 · chapter mention

remember what James 5, 16 tells us?

It tells us this.

It says,

Confess your faults one to another

and pray for one another

that you may be healed.

And the effectual fervent prayer

of a righteous man availeth much.

That verse plays out here very clearly.

The righteous fervent prayer

and availeth much before God.

This man of God, when he prayed,

we're going to see here

that God healed Jeroboam.

So this is quite a lot of stuff going on here.

As God is dealing with Jeroboam

and he's understanding the dynamic here

of what's happening.

You know, look over in the scripture.

Turn to Proverbs chapter 16 for a moment.

Proverbs 16 · chapter mention

Because we need to always remember

that God tells us that we have authority and truth,

but we also have to always make sure

that we understand that God is also merciful,

that God is gracious.

And how this balances.

Look here in Proverbs 16, verse 5.

Proverbs 16:5

It says,

You notice that mercy and truth are put together.

In the New Testament,

you find that to speak the truth in love.

You know?

When you preach and teach the truth of God's word,

it makes people uncomfortable sometimes.

When you preach about sin,

that people, their sin has separated them from God,

it's going to create a conflict.

That's truth.

But we also need mercy.

The right spirit and the right attitude

behind it.

It makes an amazing difference.

You know?

Think about 2 John chapter 1.

2 John 1 · chapter mention

When the apostle John is writing here,

he says,

Grace be with you.

Mercy and peace from God the Father

and from the Lord Jesus Christ,

the Son of the Father.

And notice the last part of that verse

in chapter 1, verse 3.

It says,

In truth and love.

The reality of love.

Love is not overlooking.

Love always needs to be attached to truth.

And truth needs to be attached to love.

Because God wants us to know the truth

because He loves us.

When we understand that picture

to speak the truth in love

as Ephesians 4 tells us,

we find here that this individual,

this man of God,

when he prayed,

Jeroboam,

his prayer was answered,

his hand was restored.

And, you know,

when you think about it,

it must have been something to see

that day at the altar.

When he comes in and screams,

oh, altar, altar,

and gives all this,

that declaration,

Jeroboam points at him,

his hand dries up,

and then he pleads with him

to pray for him,

and his hand's healed.

The altar has split open,

all the ashes have fallen out.

Because this is where this chapter

records some things

that are interesting,

and it sums up at the end.

But I want you to understand

that if you're going to be

a man of God,

if you're going to be

a person of God,

the one thing we can take

from this tonight

is to understand

that we need to stand

in obedience

to the Word of God.

The man was willing to go

and to do what God

had told him to do,

but also to stand on truth.

Notice here with me,

verse 7,

And the king said unto

the man of God,

Come home with me,

and refresh thyself,

and I will give thee a reward.

And the man of God

said unto the king,

If thou wilt give me

half thine house,

I will not go in with thee,

neither will I eat bread,

nor drink water in this place.

For so I was charged me

by the word of the Lord,

saying, Eat no bread,

or drink water,

nor turn again

by the same way

that thou camest.

So he went another way,

and returned not by the way

that he came to Bethel.

This man of God

was willing to stand

on the truth of God.

In other words,

he said,

Yes, I know that God healed you,

and I don't think

there was anything wrong

in Jeroboam saying,

Hey, I want to thank you

for doing something good for me.

But I want you to see

the picture of the man of God

had already been told what?

Very direct information,

hadn't he?

He said,

You're not to eat

when you go up there,

you're not to drink,

and you're not to go

the same way.

In other words,

basically,

I don't want you

to have any social contact

that you're going

back and forth here.

You need to be separate

from what's happening.

And the man of God,

I want you to see here,

probably was looking

wore out,

because by the time

you walk up someplace

and you haven't eaten

and you haven't drank

any water,

it starts to show,

and I think Jeroboam

was just trying to be

repaying kind,

you know.

But I want you to understand,

as we're going to look here,

it's more important

to stand on the truth

than it is

for our own luxury.

Because sometimes

we have a tendency

of saying,

well,

that sounds pretty good.

We'll bend the rules

a little bit.

Instead of standing

on truth,

the offer to refresh

at the king's home

and receive a reward

definitely would have been

a temptation.

You know,

the prophet replied,

though,

his reply was

one of principle

declaring that

he must stand

on the truth

of the word

of the Lord,

because the Lord

had commanded him

to travel directly

to Shiloh

and return to Judah

another way,

neither eating

or drinking

along the way.

You know,

I want you to understand,

to stand in truth

is a choice

that you make.

Look over in the Old Testament,

go to Psalm 119

for a moment.

Psalm 119

in verse 30,

because you see here

in Psalm 119

Psalms 119:30

verse 30,

it says,

I have chosen

the way of truth.

Thy judgments

have I laid

before me.

You know,

I have chosen

the way of truth.

To stand in truth

is a choice

that we make.

It's a conscious choice.

It doesn't happen

by accident.

You know,

when you understand

that to walk

in the right way

was important.

And why was this important?

I think God's laying

another principle

out for us.

Look over

in the New Testament

for a moment.

Go to Ephesians

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5.

Because I want you

to understand,

Jeroboam had rejected

the things of God.

God had offered him

many blessings,

you might say.

And Jeroboam said,

I don't care.

Notice here

in Ephesians 5,

look down at verse 11.

It says this,

have no fellowship

with the unfruitful

works of darkness,

rather reprove them.

God was setting

a standard here.

He says,

man of God,

you don't go

hanging out

with people

who are totally

against the things,

especially ones

that know

who I am

and what I've

promised to them.

The unfruitful

works of darkness,

the man of God,

was not tainted

by the false worship

that was happening

in Shiloh.

You know,

the priests

and the Levites

and others

that trusted the Lord

had already

removed themselves

from Israel.

Now this is important

as we're going to look

a little later

in this chapter

because the next

individuals that we find

are going to cause

a little bit

of question here

of why are they there?

Because you know what?

Believers can

compromise ourselves.

It doesn't make you

unsaved,

but you can compromise

your testimony,

you can compromise

truth,

you can compromise

all sorts of things

and look over

the news.

Go to 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6

for a moment.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6

and we see here

in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6

in verse 16

because notice

what Paul's telling

those at the church

at Corinth.

He tells them this,

he says,

in what agreement

hath the temple

of God with idols?

Think about this

man of God

standing before

Jeroboam's golden calf.

Jeroboam wanted

to be identified

with the golden calf

and the man of God

said,

God told me

I should not be

associated with your idol.

He was going to be

very careful

about disassociating

with that idol.

Notice what he says,

for you are the temple

of the living God

for as God has said,

I will dwell in them

and walk in them

and I will be their God

and they shall be my people.

Look at verse 17,

wherefore come out

from among them

and be ye separate

saith the Lord

and touch not

the unclean thing

and I will receive you.

Now I want you

to understand

the principle here

was what the priests

and the Levites

had already done.

Those that wanted

to follow the Lord,

what did they say?

We're not going

to worship your idol.

You're not going

to tell us

we can't worship God.

We're going to go

separate from you

to the place

that we can worship God.

A conscious choice

that was made

and this principle

still applies today

as we must be principled

in our walk

and stand in truth,

relying on the Lord

to guide

and to direct us

along the way.

Because remember,

God had given him

very great directions,

didn't he?

He said,

this is what you're going

to do.

This is what you're going

to say.

This is how you're going

to do it.

He had all the details

laid out for him.

You know,

God does that for us

if we allow it.

Look over to the book

of Proverbs for a moment,

Proverbs chapter 3.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

You know,

a very familiar verse,

but I want you to see

this verse in application.

Because so far,

this man of God

is doing a pretty good job.

You know,

he's standing in obedience,

he's standing on truth.

Proverbs 3 verse 5 says what?

Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord

with what?

All thine heart

and lean not unto thine

own understanding.

That's a key part

of that verse

oftentimes we brush over.

Lean not unto what?

Thine own understanding.

What gets us in trouble

when we start replacing

God's wisdom

with our wisdom

and how we understand

things to be

instead of what God

has said.

And look at verse 6.

In all thy ways

acknowledge him

and he'll do what?

Direct thy paths.

In other words,

God had a path

for this man of God

to safely get

up to Shiloh

to do what he was told

to do in truth,

to be obedient,

to do what he was supposed

to do,

and to get back home

and be untainted

by all that was going on.

That was God's plan.

But I want you to understand

the man of God

forgot a very important thing,

that third thing

we're going to look at tonight,

because he needed

to stand in faith.

because you can know

the truth,

but faith is taking

truth and putting it

into action,

is acting upon it.

That's the difference

because James tells us,

he that knoweth

to do good

and doeth it not

to him it is sin.

You know,

that's an interesting statement

when you stay that verse out.

In other words,

it's not a verse

of ignorance,

it's a verse

of willing choice.

Because he didn't say

in James,

you know,

well,

if you didn't know

it was good

but you should have done it,

it's sin,

it said,

no,

if you know

you should do

and you choose not to,

now it's a problem.

It became a problem

because you already knew

what you were supposed to do.

You weren't operating

in ignorance.

You're operating

in a matter of lack

of faith,

of saying,

I know what God

has for me to do

and I choose not to do it.

But to stand in faith

is important.

Because notice here,

the man of God

had begun his journey

back towards Judah,

stops to rest

under an oak tree,

and, you know,

God didn't tell him

he couldn't stop

and take a break

and I think, you know,

I don't think there was

anything wrong necessarily

with what he was doing.

You know,

he was probably tired

and traveling, you know,

to stop and take a little break

under the tree

and enjoy the shade

for a moment.

But I want you to see

what takes place.

In the rest of this chapter,

it's apparent

that we must hold fast

to the Word of God

and trust God

that standing in faith,

faith in the Word of God,

in other words,

will be deceived.

We have to say,

God has said it,

therefore I need

to take action upon it.

This is a key

that we see here

in this chapter

to stand by faith.

Now notice here with me,

look at verse 11

because this is

one of these narratives

in Scriptures

that sometimes

you look at and say,

well, that's kind of

an odd direction

that God recorded.

I mean,

you think about this

for a moment.

The man of God

comes from Judah.

He comes up,

he confronts Jeroboam,

the altar split open,

his hand is dried up

and then it's made whole

and the guy takes off

and starts heading home.

Then we have this narrative

of three other individuals

that get involved,

kind of out of no place,

you might say,

that weren't even necessarily

relative to the account

but it does come in

because what takes place

becomes common knowledge

even to Jeroboam.

And I want you to see

what takes place here

in the rest of this chapter.

Now notice in verse 11,

Now there dwelt

an old prophet in Bethel

and his sons came

and told him

all the words

the man of God

had done

the day in Bethel

and the words

which he had spoken

unto the king

and they told also

to their father.

And their father

said unto them,

What way went he

for his sons

had seen

that way

the man of God

went

which came

from Judah.

Now,

so we see here

in Shiloh,

this is another

one of those

things that when you

start thinking about it

gets pretty interesting.

What is the old prophet

doing still hanging out there

when all the other

godly people did what?

They'd already taken off.

Then you have

a second question,

What's the old prophet's

son doing

hanging out

at the idol sacrifice?

How did they have

first-hand information?

Well, they had to be where?

Present.

Compromise.

This is a little

side note for you.

Your compromise

will be doubled down

by your kids.

His sons

come and tell him.

Others had separated

but this man

had kept his family there.

He compromised

with what was happening

in Israel.

You know,

maybe he's like

many others

that remain

where truth

is compromised

refusing to separate

themselves

to be identified

with God's people.

You know,

things like this

still happen today.

It's amazing

when you talk to people.

People will know

the truth

but choose

even to go to churches

that are counter to truth.

That's compromise.

Because something about it

they just, you know,

that makes them

not, you know,

makes them feel uncomfortable.

But as his sons come

and report about the prophecy

and the healing of Jeroboam,

the old prophet

asks about the direction

the man of God

had taken

and starts out after him.

And we find here,

look down at verse 13.

It says,

And he said to his son,

Saddle me the ass

and he saddled him the ass

and he rode thereon

and went after the man of God

and found him sitting under an oak.

And he said unto him,

Art thou the man of God

that camest from Judah?

And he said,

I am.

And then he said unto him,

Come home with me

and eat bread.

Now,

I want you to see something here

because the man of God

gave the right reply.

In other words,

he knew the right information.

He tells him,

No, I can't

because God has told me this.

The word of the Lord

has spoken.

Now, this is important

because I want you to see

what takes place here.

The response was

the word of the Lord

that was given unto the man of God.

He had a clear instruction

from the Lord.

Yet I'm going to see,

I want you to see here

because of a lack of faith

in what God had said,

he was deceived

and it caused a problem.

What he did,

you might say,

caused a real scene in Israel.

As we're going to look

at the scene

that took place a little later,

word would get around

even today.

I guarantee if you had

this same scene happen

at the end of this chapter,

it would make the news.

Social media

would have more clips

about this

than you could

even grab a hold of.

I mean,

the word would spread quickly

of what takes place

from this point.

The man of God,

even though he was hungry

he was tired,

he desired water,

he might even

desired fellowship

because remember

it was an old prophet.

We don't know.

These two may have been

at least familiar

with one another.

I'm not saying

they were necessarily

good friends,

but if you're a man of God,

it's interesting

as you travel

you meet a lot

of different people

that profess to be Christians

and serve God.

You're familiar with them,

but you may not really know them.

You don't know them

in detail.

I want you to see

that was this man's end,

but I want you to remember

above all else

we need to trust

the word of God

because physically

we will make choices

that are contrary

to the word of God

if we're not going to stand

on faith

of what God has said.

Turn over to Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 for a moment.

Deuteronomy chapter 8,

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

we look down here

in verse 3

because here

Deuteronomy 8, 3

it says,

and he humbled thee

and suffered thee to hunger

and fed thee with manna

which thou knewest not

neither did thy fathers know

that he might make thee know

what did he want them to know?

That man doth not live

by bread alone

but by every word

that proceedeth out

the mouth of the Lord

doth man live.

Now,

your Bible trivia question

for the night.

Where is this quoted

in the New Testament?

When Jesus was tempted

of the devil,

Jesus in Matthew 4, 4

quotes

Deuteronomy 8, 3.

Jesus is tired and hungry.

He'd been fasting for 40 days

and the devil said,

hey, turn these stones into bread

and we could get into that

because would Jesus

have a problem

turning stones into bread?

No.

Wouldn't have been

anything outside of his scope

of capability

but that wasn't the issue.

The issue is the fact that

physically

needs to take secondary

to spiritual.

This life is going to pass away.

We need to look at the big picture.

The old prophet,

notice what the old prophet does

because this is interesting

because this individual

can be related with many others

within the scripture.

Look at verse 18,

and he said unto him,

I'm a prophet also as thou art.

Now, I want you to notice

this next phrase.

And an angel spake unto me

by the word of the Lord.

It's amazing how many people

get caught up in religions

where somebody says

an angel spoke unto me.

And what the angel said

was contrary

to the things God said.

Islam is built on

what an angel said.

Mormonism is built

on what an angel said.

Seventh-day Adventist

is built on what an angel said.

The list could go on.

In other words,

what I want you to see,

what's happening here

is important for us

to recognize today also.

That it doesn't matter

what somebody says

an angel said

or what kind of dream

or vision they had.

It matters what did God say.

What did God have to say

about it?

Look over in the New Testament

for a moment.

Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

for a moment.

2 Corinthians chapter 11.

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

And I need somebody

to read that.

And then I've got another one here.

Galatians 1.8.

Get a couple of people

to help me out here.

Ethan, you got the first one there?

Yeah, 2 Corinthians 11

2 Corinthians 11:12–14

verses 12 through 14,

if you would.

And Galatians 1.8.

Who's got that one quick?

Matt, you got that one back there?

All right.

Go ahead, Ethan.

Yeah.

In other words,

the devil's a master of deceit.

What's Galatians 1.8 tell us?

Yeah.

I want you to understand

that this was not a one-off.

The devil uses the same thing.

But notice what takes place here.

This prophet,

he tells him,

he says,

the angel spake unto me

and he said,

to bring you back with thee

unto thine house

that he may eat bread

and drink water.

Now notice that last phrase

of verse 18,

but he lied unto him.

So the man of God

goes back with him

to eat bread.

Now we're running out of time

so I'll shorten

and condense this for you.

They're sitting there

at the table.

They're eating

and the old prophet

gets a real word

from the Lord.

Now I want you to understand,

I believe when it says

an old prophet,

this is a man

who did know the Lord

and who the Lord was.

You can equate him also

into the Old Testament

to a man by the name of Balaam.

God spoke to Balaam

even though Balaam

wasn't doing

what he was supposed to do.

I don't know

what the connection is,

but it seems like

whenever this happens

there's always a donkey around.

But we find here

that the word comes,

the Lord actually comes to him

and notice what he says

in verse 21.

He says,

For as much as thou hast

disobeyed the mouth

of the Lord

and hast not kept

the commandment

which the Lord thy God

commanded thee,

thou but camest back

and hast eaten bread

and drunk water

in this place

of which the Lord

did say to thee,

Eat no bread,

drink no water,

thy carcass shall not come

into the sepulcher

of thy fathers.

I bet you that

made the dinner nice.

Imagine having dinner

with somebody

and they stand up

and say,

Hey,

you disobeyed God

so you're going to die.

That's a dinner conversation.

The old prophet declares it.

The man of God

gets up

and begins to return back.

Takes a donkey

from the old prophet

and sends him back

towards Judah.

Along the way,

something interesting happens.

It says a lion met them.

The lion kills

the man of God.

And this is where

I said the spectacle

was something

that would make the news.

The news

and the spectacle

is this.

The picture

in the scripture

is this.

You have the donkey

standing here.

You have the dead man

of God

and the lion

sitting next to him.

Now,

I don't know about you

but that would probably

make the news.

And it did

in their day

because the Bible

says as you read

through this

that people that saw it

went by

and went back

into Shiloh

and said,

did you see

what we saw

alongside the road?

There's a dead guy

laying there

with a donkey

and a lion

standing next to it.

Sounds like the beginning

of a really bad joke,

doesn't it?

Sadly,

it was no joke.

What a sight

it must have been.

So the old prophet,

word gets back

to him

and he gets back

on his donkey

and he goes out

and he gathers up

the man of God,

puts him on

the other donkey

which is interesting

because the lion

just sitting there.

He takes him back

and puts him

in his own grave,

his own sepulcher

and he puts him there

and he tells his son,

he says,

when I die,

bury me next to him.

When I die,

bury me next to him

as the old

end of it,

as the old prophet

brings him back

and he places

a grave marker.

Turn back over

to 2 Kings

for a moment.

Let's go,

2 Kings chapter 23,

2 Kings 23 · chapter mention

let's read the rest

of what Josiah

came across

because there was

a placard

on this gravestone

for over 300 years.

Notice what it tells us

here in verse 17,

he said,

what title is that

that I see?

And the men

of the city

told him

it was a sepulcher

of the man of God

which came from Judah

and proclaimed

these things

that thou hast done

against the altar

of Bethel.

And he said,

let him alone,

let no man

move his bones

so they let his bones

alone with the bones

of the prophet

that came out

of Samaria.

In other words,

they had a headstone

there that said,

hey, this is who it is.

Everybody else,

when you read that account,

that was buried there,

their bones were dug up

because they were prophets

of the false idol

and their bodies

were burned,

their bones were burned

upon the altar

to desecrate it.

That's what Josiah did.

Now, that's another one

of the things

we don't have time

tonight to get into

all that,

but that's ancient customs

of things

that we need to understand

the picture,

big picture though.

What got the man

of God in trouble?

He was obedient,

he understood,

he stood on truth,

but he forgot what?

He needed to stand in faith.

He needed to trust

what he knew to be true.

Not because he thought

it was true,

but because God said it

and got him in trouble.

Now, let's go to the end

of the chapter here quick.

Look down at verse 33

because the first part

of verse 33

is another one

of those interesting phrases.

After this thing,

well, what was the thing

it's talking about?

The whole issue at the altar,

the story that got around

that the man of God

that all that happened

at the altar

got killed by a lion

with the donkey

and the lion

sitting next to him

alongside the road

and the word got back

to Jeroboam.

Look at this in verse 33.

After this thing,

Jeroboam returned not

from his evil way,

but made again

the lowest of the people

priests of the high places,

whosoever he would.

He consecrated him

and he became one

of the priests

of the high places.

And this thing became a sin

unto the house of Jeroboam

even to cut it off

and destroy it

from off the face

of the earth.

Even after all this,

Jeroboam said,

God, I don't care.

He rejected God

in the midst of all that.

We need to understand

the importance

of what we see

because it's a clear,

it's going to result

in the destruction

of the house of Jeroboam.

We need to understand

the importance

of trusting God,

to know God's word,

to stand in obedience

to God's word,

but also to stand

in faith

of what God has said,

to do the things

that God

has declared.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Fathers,

we come before you tonight,

Lord, we just thank you

for your word.

Lord, help us to understand

the importance

for your word.

Amen.