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 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 seem to be going well for Jeroboam and his kingdom until we read the first two 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 gonna 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 north 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 worshiped. So you had the 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 in local churches? It can fill up calendars with events. It can.

Oh, it can gather crowds. Oh, 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 two tells us, and the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, oh, 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. 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 and 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 wanna know the deeper explanation behind that, then find that in second Samuel, I believe, chapter eight 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 It was reserved for one person only. 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 distillate 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 two 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 site? Can you imagine me speaking to this? Oh, pulpit, pulpit.

That'd be kinda 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 offense, 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 himself to receive a personalized message from another prophet at a previous time, he's become so hardened, so spiritually deaf, 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's gonna declare about this altar, the altar submits to, and here's this man who's creating 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 men 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 and look at this with me in Luke 19 verse thirty nine and forty 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 him, teacher, rebuke your disciples.

They're asking you to save them and deliver them. They're declaring and 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 wanna 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 is saying, if people will not acknowledge me, nature will acknowledge me. I will not go without exaltation and acknowledgment 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 a poetic way of 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, an inanimate 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 wanna make this case in Joshua 24 verse 27. This is at the end of the book of Joshua when the nation of Israel was 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. In Joshua 24 verse 27, we read, and Joshua said to all the people, behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore, it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God. So he erects this 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. That 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 two. 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 two, 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 here very briefly that it's possible for this imagery, for this proverbial thing of stones crying out in the context of judgment. And here's Jesus saying, if these people will not praise, then these stones will cry out. And at this point in Luke chapter 19, the stones were silent.

Do you know why they were silent? Because the people were praising. The people were 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 that to see it with your own eyes. Matthew 27 in verse 50.

Matthew 27 verse 50. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. This is the case I'm making. The rocks, the stones eventually did cry out.

They were silent when Jesus entered, but when the people were violent, who committed the worst act of violence known to human history, the rocks testified. The rocks split. Do you think rocks split silently? And I 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 for 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 in 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 responsive to the word of the Lord. And let me show you a text that tells tells exactly that. In Psalm 32 verse eight you don't have to turn there.

Listen to this very carefully. It's a very known Psalm, and this is a very known passage of scripture. In Psalm thirty two eight, the psalmist 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 curved 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 he's speaking on behalf of God. God's 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 in 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 relationships where the word of God keeps coming up, principles from the word of God, and you keep dismissing it. 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 hardened to 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. Oh, 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.

Number one, because it is a powerful rebuke to Jeroboam. Number two, 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 gonna be desecrated. And do you know who's gonna desecrate it? One of David's sons. You know what he's 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 three centuries after this was prophesied. Can you imagine that? Just a little bit over three hundred 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 second 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 three hundred 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 twenty three sixteen. 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? Three hundred 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 three hundred years after it was declared. And 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 work 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, okay. This is from the Lord. Let's see this altar break in two. I wanna see the ashes pour out.

Instead, he doesn't even wait for the sign to be performed. He is 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 gonna 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 traveled 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 opened my bottom, like, I I know this this is something in Amos here, and it's in Amos five ten. You don't have to turn there, but just listen to what Amos declares in five ten. 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 abhor means?

Disgust. Not just with the message, but with the 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 wanna see other people know the freedom in 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 he described the 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 when this man of God did come, it says he cried against the altar. You know what might be the temptation of a man of God who's stepping into enemy territory with a king who has, at the snap of a finger, the power to eradicate your life?

Probably to lower your voice as much as possible. You're still gonna say it to be faithful, but you want the least amount of people to hear what you have to say. Oh, altar, altar. 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 heard. He actually wanted as many people to hear as possible. He cried. He cry.

I'm not gonna do it now. I think I'm loud enough, so 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 to 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 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 five. 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, okay. This altar split in two. Maybe Jeroboam's heart will split in two.

Let's read verse six. 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 realized 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 of 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, oh Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Now if you said behold your gods, okay. 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? He told everybody else that these gods saved them in the past and that, okay. 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 their 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? Intrigued. Intrigued. Please.

Please do something. Well, that's what you get for worshiping 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. Okay?

Alright. See you later, guys. You see what happened to you? Golden caps? Alright.

And he could've went back his merry way. He could've made a statement. No. He doesn't do that. Look at the rest of verse six.

And the man of God entreated the Lord, and 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 raining. 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 here. 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 when this man just cried out for help, you're 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 and 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 due 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.

Did I 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 hardened heart that hates God's law, that wants to be my own God, not that kind of salvation. There are millions 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 is 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 wanna 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 they're not their heart is not in the right place, but perhaps, in God doing something though they didn'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 seven. 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 on 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 two 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 his 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. Of 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 drink with 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 scorn the world, disown 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 was 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 wisdom from God. To know how to navigate with relationships and family members, enough where 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 route. I have to change my directions on the GPS. I 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 I you came in. Okay? Just trust me on that. No explanation given.

Okay. You told me to do that. I'm not gonna 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 hey, man of god.

Why can't you go back to wait? God told me to. That's enough for me. God told me to. Okay.

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 Joelle was there, obviously, so 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, 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 first 10 verses? That's why because I you know, you're reading it, you're reading it, and you're looking all okay. What about this altar? What about it opening up? Oh, stones.

Jesus talked about stones. So testifying. Wait a minute. 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 seven 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 ministered 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, though I got a nudge today.

Little nudge. You can look at this text in a completely different way and it still be faithful to the text. And I just I was getting ready and I was just like worshiping 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 study, completely different sermon, a completely different set of truths.

My book is unlike any other. So that's what I leave with you in the ending of this. And maybe one day you'll get a sermon about what a man of God looks like according to first Kings chapter 13. Maybe not. But before I go into that Bible study, I'm gonna 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.

That 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, humble 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 your 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 through 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, we're able to demonstrate grace and mercy and forgiveness and help to the sinner. Help us be men and women of God That 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 unless 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 one nineteen becomes a reality to me. I wanna challenge you to something as the praise team comes up. Read Psalm one nineteen.

K? 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 wanna encourage you to do. If you can't resonate with the psalmist in Psalm one nineteen, 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 and be like, I get that. Oh, yeah. That 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 one nineteen to be something I can quote and say this was not just true of him.

It's true of me. Do it. And 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 gotta get desperate, though. And, unfortunately, so many people are satisfied with entertainment. You know what 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 ever 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 one nineteen, 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.