The Man of God

[0:00] 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.

[1:01] 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.

[1:13] 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.

[1:38] 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?

[1:59] 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.

[2:11] 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.

[2:30] 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.

[2:43] 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.

[2:54] 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, And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts.

[3:13] 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.

[3:24] In other words, Jeroboam did what? He shut down the worship to the Lord. He shut down those things of worshiping the Lord.

[3:34] 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.

[3:53] And so as we find here, we're going to pick up tonight in 1 Kings chapter 13 in verse 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.

[4:08] 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.

[4:44] 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.

[5:10] 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.

[5:21] So we see here something very important here because 1 Kings chapter 13 brings out a very new individual on the scene. And he's referred to as just the man of God.

[5:33] 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.

[5:48] 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.

[6:03] 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.

[6:15] 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.

[6:32] 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.

[6:44] 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.

[6:55] 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.

[7:09] 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.

[7:19] 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?

[7:32] 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.

[7:43] 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.

[7:56] 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.

[8:09] But Jeroboam instead turned his back on God, which brings this clear and quick rebuke from the man of God that comes.

[8:20] 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?

[8:35] 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.

[8:46] 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.

[9:11] 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.

[9:34] 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.

[9:49] 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.

[10:15] 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.

[10:31] 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.

[10:54] 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 and is recorded for us over here in 2 Kings chapter 23 and down in verse 15.

[11:12] 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.

[11:31] 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.

[11:51] 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.

[12:01] 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?

[12:14] 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.

[12:25] 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.

[12:37] 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.

[12:53] 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.

[13:04] 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.

[13:18] 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.

[13:31] 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?

[13:43] 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.

[14:05] 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.

[14:19] 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.

[14:31] 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.

[14:42] 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.

[14:54] 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.

[15:06] 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.

[15:19] 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.

[15:32] 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.

[15:44] 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.

[15:58] 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.

[16:22] 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.

[16:37] 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.

[16:49] And we see here this, he came humbly and compassionately. And when Jeroboam desired mercy and healing, the prophet mercifully besought the Lord.

[17:00] The Bible says that he prayed. You know, remember back over in James chapter 5, 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.

[17:14] 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.

[17:27] 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.

[17:44] You know, look over in the scripture. Turn to Proverbs chapter 16 for a moment. 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.

[18:05] And how this balances. Look here in Proverbs 16, verse 5. It says, You notice that mercy and truth are put together.

[18:29] 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.

[18:42] 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.

[18:56] It makes an amazing difference. You know? Think about 2 John chapter 1. When the apostle John is writing here, he says, Grace be with you.

[19:10] 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.

[19:23] 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.

[19:34] 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.

[19:50] 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.

[20:07] 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.

[20:28] 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.

[20:47] 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.

[20:59] 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.

[21:14] 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.

[21:30] 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.

[21:41] 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.

[22:06] 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.

[22:18] 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.

[22:33] 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.

[22:54] 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 verse 30, it says, I have chosen the way of truth.

[23:14] 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.

[23:27] 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.

[23:38] 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 chapter 5. Because I want you to understand, Jeroboam had rejected the things of God.

[23:51] 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.

[24:06] 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.

[24:21] 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.

[24:38] 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?

[24:50] 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.

[25:05] Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 for a moment. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and we see here in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 in verse 16 because notice what Paul's telling those at the church at Corinth.

[25:19] 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.

[25:35] 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.

[25:50] 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.

[26:05] 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.

[26:17] 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.

[26:34] 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.

[26:44] You know, God does that for us if we allow it. Look over to the book of Proverbs for a moment, Proverbs chapter 3. You know, a very familiar verse, but I want you to see this verse in application.

[26:57] 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?

[27:08] 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.

[27:19] 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.

[27:32] 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.

[27:57] 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.

[28:18] 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.

[28:30] 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.

[28:42] 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.

[28:55] 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.

[29:13] 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.

[29:34] 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.

[29:46] 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.

[29:58] 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.

[30:10] 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.

[30:27] 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.

[30:46] 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.

[31:06] 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?

[31:20] 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.

[31:32] 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.

[31:48] 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.

[32:05] 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.

[32:20] 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?

[32:33] 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.

[32:45] 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.

[32:56] 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.

[33:11] 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.

[33:22] 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.

[33:32] 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.

[33:48] 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.

[34:04] 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.

[34:23] Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 8 for a moment. Deuteronomy chapter 8, 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?

[34:44] 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.

[34:56] Where is this quoted in the New Testament? When Jesus was tempted of the devil, Jesus in Matthew 4, 4 quotes Deuteronomy 8, 3.

[35:09] 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?

[35:21] 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.

[35:37] 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.

[35:51] 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.

[36:03] 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.

[36:15] 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.

[36:30] 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.

[36:43] Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 for a moment. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And I need somebody to read that. And then I've got another one here. Galatians 1.8.

[36:55] Get a couple of people to help me out here. Ethan, you got the first one there? Yeah, 2 Corinthians 11 verses 12 through 14, if you would.

[37:05] 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.

[37:38] 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.

[37:49] 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.

[38:00] 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.

[38:12] 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.

[38:28] 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.

[38:38] 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.

[39:04] 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.

[39:15] 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.

[39:29] 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.

[39:41] 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.

[39:51] 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?

[40:06] 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.

[40:17] 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.

[40:32] 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.

[40:46] 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.

[40:58] Let's go, 2 Kings chapter 23, let's read the rest of what Josiah came across because there was a placard on this gravestone for over 300 years.

[41:09] 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.

[41:24] 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.

[41:36] 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.

[41:50] 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.

[42:04] 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.

[42:15] 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.

[42:27] 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?

[42:37] 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.

[42:50] 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.

[43:03] 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.

[43:16] 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.

[43:37] 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.

[43:56] 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.

[44:17] Amen.