0:00 You know, I was sitting out in the parking lot, not outside, but in my car. Came a little bit early. And I was sitting there. I don't know if it was the instrumental I was listening to, the worship instrumental or what. But in that moment, I just was transported back to 2020 no.
0:17 2012, and it was January. I don't remember the exact date, but it was the time where, I got saved. And it was so real, and I just reflected on the moments leading up to it right before the service. But in particular, I remember the day after I got saved. I know everybody's testimony is different, and I'm fully aware that not everybody can remember the moment they got saved.
0:46 I can't even tell you the day exactly. I just remember it was a long weekend. It was in the month of January, and it was, a few days leading up to that where the Lord's presence was so real and his gospel was coming alive in my heart. And I'm sitting there, and I'm thinking about the next morning. It was a winter morning.
1:03 I was in my basement apartment, and I remember the feeling of waking up and getting out of my bed, and the only word that can describe it is this, freedom. Freedom. And I was impressed to share this part. I usually don't do this. You know, this if you come every week, but maybe somebody needs to hear this.
1:24 I was shackled in sin. I was deep in bondage. And the only way I can describe what it's like to come into contact with this gospel and for it to be received by faith is I felt those chains fall off. Saying, what do you mean? That sounds so, poetic and that sounds so, ethereal.
1:46 What do you mean you were free? I didn't wanna sin anymore. That's what I mean by being free. It's like there's a new appetite, and the thing that you once were so allured by and enticed by and drawn to now became repulsive. It it had a stink to it, and you wanted to remove it from your life.
2:08 And you not just wanted to remove it, but you felt this incredible empowerment to do it. And the feeling I had that next day after a night of weeping and surrendering was I wanted my life to be as clean as possible from anything that would offend the god that saved me the night before. It wasn't out of drudgery. It wasn't out of, wanting to please him so that he can accept me. It was because now I belong to him.
2:38 And I just began this personal campaign of looking at things that I know I shouldn't be doing. Nobody had to tell me anybody anything about anybody or anything that I was doing. I just began to clean my computer, clean my phone, clean my relationships, clean up my priorities. I wanna tell you something. If you're a person who claims to be a Christian, but you don't know what I'm talking about, don't cheapen the experience that God wants you to have.
3:04 He wants to save you, and when he saves you, you'll know it. You'll know it. And if you haven't experienced that freedom, tonight can be the night. This is a bible study. I know we're gonna be in the old test, but maybe tonight, the Lord wants to save you, and that you would leave here with that sensation of this burden rolling off your back, and you see the world differently differently.
3:30 Can I tell you how differently I saw the world? Everything was different. Snow looked different. My material possessions looked different. My studies looked different.
3:42 My dreams looked different. Everything looked different. And there was such a hunger to be where God was, to be in the place of God. Nobody again had to tell me anything. I remember one one day after a few weeks into my salvation, it was a I mean, Toronto winters are like Chicago winters, and they weren't like what has been the past few years.
4:02 Like, real brutal blizzards would come. And I remember there would be just services in the middle of the week, and I didn't have a car. I I didn't like taking public transport much. So I remember making hot chocolate and putting it into one of those those plastic bottles of water. I drank the water and I'm like, maybe this will keep my hands warm and I would sip from I don't know.
4:19 It's safe to do it with a plastic bottled water, but I did it anyway. And I just put my jackets on, put pajamas underneath my under underneath my jeans, and I just walked to church underneath underpasses and all these different things just to get to the place where I knew God would meet with his people. If you're not safe tonight, why? Why? What are you holding on to?
4:45 What sin are you so enjoying that you're willing to deny Christ for? So I wanna tell you tonight that the Lord Jesus wants to save you. And we're gonna get into our Bible study. Don't worry. This isn't gonna turn into an evangelistic meeting.
5:00 But we have to be sensitive to promptings, do we not? So if you don't know Christ, at any point in this meeting, you can talk to him and say, lord, I wanna give my life to you. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. I believe that I'm a sinner. I believe that you will one day come and return, and I wanna make sure that I'm in right standing with you.
5:22 And I believe with all my heart that if I confess my sins, if I confess that you're lord, if I confess and believe in my heart that god raised the son of god from the dead, that my verdict will be sealed. I will be a child of god, and I will have redemption forever. You can do that anytime in this meeting. And I believe with all my heart that if you do it from a place of true repentance, you'll leave here a different person. First Kings chapter 13, and please meet me in verse 11.
5:57 We have some visitors today. We're so glad that you can join us. And I pray and hope that though we are in the middle of a Bible study in the Old Testament, that you'll be able to follow with us at this particular moment. But I wanna open up this study by asking a few questions. Is it possible for a true man of God?
6:22 A true man of God in a moment of weakness, in a moment of unpreparedness to be deceived? Is it possible for a true man of God to come to a point where he makes such a significant failure to commit such a serious sin, though his life has been generally marked by faithfulness? Is it possible for a true man of God to come to a place where he has so grieved God that he would be cut off from this life as a result of an act of divine discipline? And what this study will tell us and teach us tonight is that the answer to those uncomfortable questions is, yes. It is possible for a true man of God who once inspired us to disappoint us.
7:27 And that might be strange coming to this chapter to complete it because last week, we were refreshed by witnessing a man of God from Judah who traveled to the Northern Kingdom to confront king Jeroboam, who led the people of Israel into severe and gross idolatry, and with great boldness rebuked him with a word from the Lord. And this man's obedience was not just recognized by his singular prophetic protest. This man's obedience was even demonstrated in that he sought to obey God in every single way that God revealed to him. So let us be reminded of how the scene of our last study delightfully concluded. So you're there in first Kings 13.
8:18 I told you to meet me in verse 11, but scroll back there to verse nine and read with me. We see here in first Kings 13 verse nine, the man saying to Jeroboam, 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. Oh, how I wish that this is where this man's testimony ended. Wouldn't it have been wonderful that in the blackness of apostasy, this man who just came like a firework on the scene would have entered into Bethel obedient and would have exited and left Bethel in obedience?
9:10 But, unfortunately, this is not where the curtain falls because the spirit of God sees it necessary that we follow this man of God from Judah who now leaves from the Northern part of Israel and heads back home to see what happens on his way. Because something happens on the way with this man of God, and it is a massive mistake. It is a huge blunder, one that will actually cost his life. So let's read the first several verses of first Kings thirteen eleven down to verse 17. Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and his sons came and told them all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel.
10:04 They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. And their father said to them, which way did he go? And his son showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. And he said to his sons, saddle the donkey for me. So they saddle the donkey for him and he mounted it.
10:24 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said to him, come home with me and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with you or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.
10:44 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, you shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came. The spirit of God introduces us to a new character in this story. And we don't know his name. We don't know much about him. All we are told in the introduction of this character that is that he was an old prophet.
11:08 And the information surrounding him, the activity connected to him, gladly gives us enough information to indicate his character, to indicate the soundness of his spirituality. So there are a few things to consider just from verse 11 that will give us hints to what kind of prophet we are dealing with here. Is he a safe prophet? Is he a legitimate prophet? Is he a prophet who is walking with the Lord?
11:38 Is he a false prophet? Let's consider a few things. First, we are told that he were lived in what? Bethel. Now an old prophet lived in Bethel.
11:50 Why is that noteworthy? Any idea? What is a prophet of God doing living in Bethel? We learned something a couple of weeks ago, did we not? There was this great exodus that took place from the northern parts of Israel down to where?
12:04 Who went down to Judah after Jeroboam implemented his own religion? The Levites, number one, the true priesthood of God made their way down, trickled down to the South. And not just the Levites, but all whose hearts sought the Lord also packed their bags and moved their families down to where God was truly honored and worshiped. What's the natural question then? What is this prophet doing in Bethel?
12:35 Why is he here? Why did he not migrate? Why did he not move? Why is he and his family still in the same neighborhood where idolatry is practiced and imposed? Maybe he just got comfortable.
12:50 Worse than being comfortable, maybe he became compliant. Here's the second thing about this man. It's not with the man directly, but his sons. It was the sons of this prophet who approached their father and gave them the update of what took place between this man from Judah and the king. How do they know what happened between the man of Judah and the king?
13:16 Any idea? They witnessed it. Meaning, they were present when that face off took place. Now that is true. But where were they exactly?
13:29 What was the occasion? Yes. Scroll back to verse one of first kings 13. 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.
13:46 This man from Judah didn't enter into his palace, didn't enter into his headquarters. He entered and interrupted a religious ceremony where Jeroboam as king was also functioning as a priest, and, evidently, he was not alone. Remember, when he lifted up that bony finger and tried to get this man arrested, he said, seize him. Well, he was telling other people to do it, obviously. And more than that, based on what we see here in verse 11, the sons of this old prophet were also in attendance.
14:16 In attendance where? At a worship service for false deities. Were they mere observers? Or worse, were they actually participants? Here's an old prophet who knows that his children are with Jeroboam with a false priesthood, a false god, a false altar.
14:36 What's going on here? Last observation. Where did this man of God come from when he came to give the pronouncement of judgment to Jeroboam and his dynasty? He came from where? Judah.
14:52 Why did God have to call a man from Judah to rebuke king Jeroboam when there was a prophet in Bethel? Isn't that a good question? Why didn't God call a man who was just down the street to go and rebuke the king? Why did he have to fetch for somebody miles and miles away to do the job? Maybe this old prophet wasn't in the right spiritual place to do anything about it.
15:19 So already, just in verse 11, we have these concerns. Warranted concerns, flags about the legitimacy of this man. Not that he would be a false prophet necessarily, but a compromised one. And as we continue to read, we'll discover something about him. We see here that the kids come, the sons come, and their father in verse 12 said to them, which way did he go?
15:46 And his son showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. And he said to his son, saddle the donkey for me. So they saddle the donkey for him, and he mounted it. And we read earlier that when he finds the man of God, he attempts to persuade him to do what? Come to my house for dinner.
16:04 Is this man curious? Is this man stirred and he wants to know something more about this prophet, this man of God who came from the South? What's his motive here in being so ambitious to fetch for this man of God? Well, we can speculate and we can debate what it was, but I have a hunch based on what we see in the text that he's not up to any good. Why?
16:29 Go back to verse 11. Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and his sons came and told him, listen to this, Read your Bible slowly. And told them all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king. So they recorded everything that he had done, the miracles that took place, and everything that this man from Judah had said, which includes what?
16:58 Well, we open this bible study with in verse nine. This man of God made known, I cannot eat or drink anything at all in this place. So if it says here that the the son said all the words that the man of Judah said, it includes that. The prohibition to remain in that area to eat or drink. So the father, the old prophet, learned this, and yet still, he sought the man to invite him to do just that.
17:30 Why would you extend an invitation to something that has been divinely decreed to not take place? This man obviously has a disregard for the word of the lord. This man obviously does not care about this man's integrity and his own obedience. And so we read on, and what what do we see? Verse 14.
17:52 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. So he catches up to this man. And no wonder, because when they now come into contact, the man from Judah is doing what?
18:12 Is he walking urgently back home? He's sitting underneath an oak tree. Was he fatigued? Was he fatigued from a day of fasting, from day of not drinking any water? Perhaps.
18:27 But I'm more persuaded that he is delaying unnecessarily his journey. I mean, think about it. God didn't tell this man from Judah, you can't eat or drink anything today. Is that what the Lord said? No.
18:40 He says, you can't eat or drink anything at all, what, in this place. It's the geographical location. Look. If I was told by the lord, you can't eat or drink as long as you're in Norwich, guess what? I wanna get out of Norwich as soon as possible.
18:59 Because I hadn't had breakfast. I hadn't had lunch, and I'm not willing to miss dinner. I'm getting out of Norwich. I'm gonna head to where I am at, and I wanna enjoy a nice warm hot meal. What are you doing, man of Judah, by sitting underneath an oak?
19:16 And the lesson here is very important. It teaches us here of the dangers that we open ourselves up to when we linger in a place that we are not supposed to be lingering at. Because you know what's so fascinating? While this man is traversing back to his hometown, we read that this father, this old prophet is told about this man, and he is preparing something. He has a scheme.
19:38 He has a plan that this man of God does not see coming. And that's a picture about how temptation works. This is supposed to equip you and I about how to do spiritual warfare. In the first 10 verses of this chapter, this man of Judah, this man of God overcame temptation. Jeroboam told them, hey.
19:57 Listen. Why don't you come over to my place? I'll refresh you, and I'll each actually reward you. And he says, no way, man. God told me to go back, not the way I came in, and to not eat anything while I'm in this place.
20:09 That is overcoming seduction. And we applaud him for that, and we rejoice in that. But do you realize that just because you and I have overcome the temptations of yesterday, it doesn't mean that there'll be no new temptations today or tomorrow. In fact, even with a particular sin that you saw victory in, be prepared, be on guard that similar sins are ready to surprise you with an invitation to indulge in it once again. So we see that this man here overcame temptation, but new temptations are preparing to pursue him while he's on the path of obedience.
20:50 Be mindful of that. What you conquered yesterday does not mean that there will be automatic victory for today or tomorrow. Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. I can't rely on the strength that I got from the Lord last week. I need fresh strength today.
21:08 And this man, unfortunately, is gonna find himself in a dangerous, vulnerable position and partly because he parked himself along the path. And I wonder if he could have dodged this old man altogether if he had just made his way back home with urgency. Beware of your environment. Beware of entertaining and delaying the crowd or the circumstances that are making provision for the flesh, whether you realize it or not. I'm reminded of another man in the Old Testament who found himself slipping into an area, slipping into a way of life without even realizing how one step very early on would lead to the next step and the next leap into a very compromising dangerous place.
22:05 One that would actually cost him his whole life and even the life of his wife. His name is Lot. Lot is not an unsaved man. If you just had the Genesis account, you would conclude, Lot ain't saved. But then you come to Peter's epistles, and we're told about Lot three times that he was a righteous man.
22:26 Oh, come on. How is Lot a righteous man? Well, he's a picture of a worldly Christian. Do you know how Lot became worldly? It was in steps.
22:39 It was by him choosing to linger somewhere, to entertain something, and that leading him to accept something else. And then to linger and and stay there and that opening up another thing and another level. And it's so seamless. It's so unsuspecting. And I wanna show it to you with your own eyes in your Bibles.
22:58 Go to Genesis 13. Come with me. Come with me. To Genesis 13. This is where it all began for Lot.
23:07 Lot and his uncle Abraham had a problem because both of them were prospering, and it didn't seem like there was enough property to take care of their flock and their servants were fighting. And so they had to make a decision to split ways. And Lot had the choice, and he gladly chose a location according to Genesis 13 verse 11. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus, they separated from each other.
23:38 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. And here is why this is concerning. Verse 13. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. So here's the first step for Lot.
24:02 He split ways with his uncle, and he makes his way to the Jordan Valley because it looks so luscious, and it looks so prosperous. And to to the human eye, it seemed like this was the way to go. And so he sets up his tent, not in Sodom, but as far as Sodom. He was just outside the city of Sodom. He was with these other people in these other cities in the valley.
24:25 So far, safe. Be careful where that you pitch your tent. Be careful where you comfortably place your life, your schedule, your fellowship, your thoughts, your entertainment, what you allow here and here. Be careful where you comfortably park that. Because notice what happens in the next chapter.
24:46 In Genesis 14, a war breaks up between these pagan kings, and Sodom gets caught up in the losing side. And notice what happens in Genesis fourteen twelve. They also took Lot, the son of Abraham's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom and his possessions and went their way. Boy, chapter 13, he wasn't in Sodom. He went as far as Sodom, but he was in the valley.
25:13 He was in the cities just outside of the city of Sodom. And then you read chapter 14, and you learn that Lot is kidnapped. Why? Because he's now living in the city of Sodom. And you learn later on that he went from having a tent outside the city to having a house in the city.
25:30 Hold on. It doesn't even end there though. Go to Genesis 19 and see where's Lot ends up before judgment comes against Sodom. Genesis nineteen one. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.
25:52 When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth. A gate in ancient times was a place where civil matters were dealt with, where councils and judicial decisions were made. You know what it means for Lot to be standing at the gate? He became a leader in the city of Sodom. He became a judge in the city of Sodom.
26:17 What do you have in common with the people of Sodom? Righteous Lot, for them to elect you as one of their leaders. Where did this all start for Lot? Making a choice to dwell just outside of the city of Sodom. And then the next chapter, he finds himself dwelling in Sodom.
26:34 And not only that, he's kidnapped. He's ransacked. He loses his possessions. Uncle Abe now comes in and rescues him, and he goes back to Sodom. And not only does he go back, he becomes a leader in it.
26:48 It's always in small steps. It it just happens without you even realizing it where you find yourself being translated into a way of life, decisions, patterns of thinking that you never thought was possible, and I'll tell you how it happens. Trace back to where it began. Where did you linger where you were not supposed to linger? Who were you with that you were not supposed to be with?
27:15 What were you doing that you know you were not supposed to be doing? Here you find this man of God from Judah sitting underneath an oak. I argue that he was supposed to make his way back as soon as he could. And so we come back to our main text in first Kings verse 13. Excuse me.
27:33 Chapter 13 verse 15. Then he said to him, come home with me and eat bread. This is so amazing. Verse 16, and he said, I may not return with you or go in with you, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water with you in this place. For I was said to me by the word of the Lord, you shall neither eat bread nor drink water there nor return by the way that you came.
27:56 This is almost word for word what this man of God from Judah said to king Jeroboam. And so, look, he does delay. Right? But he's able to, in his initial answer, have resolve and actually reject this offer as well. And what's so impressive about this is that the invitation from this old prophet is less appealing than what king Jeroboam offered.
28:20 Remember, king Jeroboam said, come home with me that you may be refreshed, and I will give you a reward. This old prophet doesn't promise him any reward. Look what he says back in verse 15. Then he said to him, come home with me and eat bread. That's less enticing in my opinion.
28:35 Hey. If I had a choice between king Jeroboam's offer and this man's offer, I'm gonna go with king Jeroboam's. At least there's a reward in this thing. Just come home and eat bread with me. So he's able to resist here.
28:48 But notice, there's no reward mentioned, but what this old prophet did have was a persistence and a packaging that this man of God was not prepared for. Satan is very clever in finding out what you are able to resist and then to repackage that sin so that it seems less harmful and more acceptable. He's doing it in many ways. One of the most common ways I love to remind people of is how we're living in a day where the vocabulary for sin has drastically changed has drastically changed. And I believe even that alone is a strategy for us to not feel the sting of sin.
29:33 God gave us a book. Words are important to God. And so we're living in a culture now where we're trying to cloud and cause things to seem more innocent and more friendly and more honorable so that we do not see how filthy it really is. We do not see how great of an offense it really is. And what we're about to read here is that the same sin is offered to this man of God, but now it is encased differently to disarm this man of God from Judah.
30:07 And there are three things that stand out from this man's successful seduction that are crucial to highlight and be aware for ourselves. Notice how, we didn't read this yet, how things are gonna take an ugly turn. Verse 18. And he said to him, I also am a prophet as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord saying, bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water, but he lied to him.
30:39 But he lied to him. There are three things that stand out here that genuine men and women of God have to be so careful of. The first thing that we observe is that this man seeks to identify common ground with this man of god from Judah. Notice that he says, I too am a prophet. Did he stop there?
31:02 I too am a prophet like you. Hey. We're from the same camp. We serve in the same kind of ministry. You can broaden that, though.
31:14 It's not implied in the text, but you can broaden the application. We have the same convictions. We have the same statement of faith. We're from the same denomination. We grew up in the same church, perhaps.
31:27 You know, when it come to Jeroboam offering this temptation, it was very easy for the man of Judah to reject it. But when it came from a fellow prophet, there was a greater appeal. I too am a prophet like you. You know, I've noticed something about believers over the years who have turned their back on the Lord, who have gone to who have gone off the rails in their faithfulness to Lord and have dove into worldliness in serious serious ways, ways that scar them for life. Your experience might be different from mine, but let me tell you from my observation that most Christians don't backslide because of worldly people persuading them.
32:05 Though it happens. In my experience, I've seen most Christians backslide through other compromising Christians. I too am a prophet like you. It seems safer when there's somebody who claims the name of Christ inviting you to sin with them, for them, alongside them. And so right here already, this man seems to be more comfortable with the idea of this invitation because he seems like he's on the same team.
32:37 Be careful of people within the church, within Christendom, who attempt to pull you away from God. I don't care how long you've known them for. I don't care how well their lives seem to be going. You know what's more important than your friendships? You know what's more important even than your family?
32:54 God and his word. You know, when you said yes to Jesus Christ, you know what you said yes to? I'm gonna follow you no matter what. And, Lord, you're more important to me than my brother, my sister, my mother, my father, anything else. That doesn't mean you neglect your family.
33:07 That doesn't mean that you become a Christian jerk. That doesn't mean you become rude and insensitive, self righteous, and hypocritical. No. That means that when it comes to a decision between following the Lord or following those who are closest to you, the Lord wins your devotion every time. I too am a prophet like you.
33:27 This man perks up. I wonder if he stood up from sitting underneath that oak, and his antennas now are up. Secondly, the older prophet not only says and finds common ground, he leverages his position to make himself more trustworthy. He didn't say, I'm a worshiper like you. He didn't say, I follow a true living God like you.
33:53 He says, I too am a prophet like you. How often do people abuse their titles, their authority, their platforms to take advantage of others? Far too common. Far too common. And not only does a position, even a spiritual position, have a potency to intoxicate the one who possesses it, but has an ability to overwhelm others who are around it.
34:25 And those who have public gifts, and those who have leadership positions, and those who have authority have to be especially careful and have to really fear the Lord. Because by virtue of that position, you win the respect and trust of those who are benefiting from your service. That authority comes with so much responsibility. And sometimes that authority can can be as simple as being older. This man was an older prophet, more experienced supposedly.
34:58 And so also be careful of those who may have titles, who may have pedigrees, who may have names with letters beside it, who may have great views on YouTube, who may have great followings, and they seem to impress you or win your trust and you respect them so much. If you're not careful to always keep Christ before you, no matter what a man or woman of God has done for you, you are in danger of falling into deception. Christ matters more than any leader in the church. Christ matters more than any person in your life that's spoken into your life. Men of God, older men of God, older women of God are prone to mess up and fail.
35:40 Be very careful to not put your trust in man, and be wary that there are some people who are older, older in the faith, older in years, that have no problem praying on younger believers who are more naive and willing to believe. Those who have more experience trust the word of God. The third thing that this old prophet does to win this younger prophet's trust is to justify his request by an ecstatic experience. So not only does he say, I also am a prophet as you are, he goes on to say, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water. This is new.
36:26 Jeroboam didn't have the audacity to do that. He was an idolater, but this man attempts to put authority behind his message by claiming a supernatural divine approval with it. I have met poor souls, lovely Christians, genuine hearted, innocent believers who have received direction in life from those who have come with the claim of a personalized revelation on their behalf. And that guidance, unfortunately, has caused more confusion than anything. And these people who are recipients of such messages are so thrown into a loop that they live many years crippled in fear thinking, if I don't obey what this person told me, not what God told me, not what the word of God told me, what this person told me on behalf of God, then maybe I will disobey God.
37:25 You and I should always be open, always to receiving exhortation, counsel, instruction from those who use the word of God to speak into our lives. But you and I should be very cautious from those who feel comfortable giving you personalized direction in your life from the place of personalized experience on your behalf. There are people who are tormented because of this kind of ministry, genuinely terrified that if they don't do what's been told to them, they are going to be in greater danger. The Bible is your authority. The word of God is your authority.
38:06 You know, all it takes is for all it takes is from any most people, not anybody, but most people in this day and age to have somebody who has a charismatic gift and ability to communicate with these elaborate stories of what God has done in him and through him, and they're hooked. And even if such a person I know this sounds outlandish, but it's true. Even if that person begins to have some connection to the word of God, but now introduce strange teachings or call people to do the things that the Bible isn't called to do or lace things with the gospel that the gospel is not, people will give into it. All it takes is for people to hear somebody having the experience, going here, experiencing that, miracles flowing through them, and that's all it takes for people to give their hearts and their wallets and their wills to such ministers and ministries. An angel told me.
38:54 Oh, is that all it takes? An angel told me. You know what John told believers in first John four one? It's a very common passage. He says, beloved, do not believe every spirit.
39:04 Why would he say that? Maybe because Christians are prone to believe things they shouldn't. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. So I'm not called to listen to this. I know it may shock you.
39:19 I'm not called to just gobble up anything that comes my way because the name of Jesus is slapped on it. I'm not even called to believe everything that comes my way just because verses are quoted. Satan quoted verses to Jesus. He came to Jesus as isn't it written? And he quotes scripture.
39:37 You know what Jesus says to deflect it and overcome it? It is also written. You know what that tells me? Satan will quote verses out of context. And if you do not know the Bible in its context, you're also prone to deception.
39:50 The way to defeat Satan is not just know what is written, but what is all written. So when Satan says it is written, you can say, yeah. But you took that out of context because look what it says here. It is also written. And so people have to understand here, according to first John four one, that we have every right.
40:08 It is our duty to test, To be careful, to be calculated, not to be cynical, not to be ugly, but to be cautious. Why, John? For many, that word sprung up to me today, Not some, many false prophets have gone out into the world. Many. Can I tell you what you can learn based out of first Kings 13 and many other examples?
40:33 There are people within our camps. There are people who will leverage their position, their authority, their gifting, their status. There are people who will appeal to supernatural revelatory experiences, listen to this, to intentionally lie to you. Intentionally lie to you. Some are so convinced of themselves that they they themselves are deceived about what they believe, but there are others who will intentionally manipulate you.
41:05 You know, there's much debate about why this man of God went out of his way to invoke the name of the Lord and lie to this man of God about what happened to him so they can have him over to his house. I mean, why go to that great lengths to actually blaspheme God to have dinner with this man? We're not told. But you know what that tells me? That there are some people in this life who are so wanting something from you that they're willing to lie to you to have it.
41:31 I I get it. This sounds scary. You you have no right to be scared because you have he who is greater in you than he who is in the world. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm trying to prepare you.
41:40 That's why the story is in the Bible. Know the word. Be prayerful. Don't be gullible, and you'll be more than safe. You'll be prosperous spiritually.
41:51 So John says test. Now why would I need to test something unless it's immediately recognizable and obviously false? Obviously, I'm called to test something because it seems right. And there are ministers and there are messages that seem convincing and of Christ when in fact they're not. And all it takes is a little bit of probing and investigation for it to fall apart and realize it's a facade, but it requires test.
42:16 Well, how do you test things? You have to first determine in your Christian walk that the word of God is my supreme authority. The word of God is my supreme authority. It's not an authority with other authorities. It's an authority even more than miracles.
42:29 You're gonna have masses deceived in the last days. You know why? Because the false antichrist will perform miracles. That's all it's gonna take for people to give their devotion to him. More than miracles, more than history, more than church history, more than anything, you have to determine to be shielded from any kind of deception.
42:52 This word is my determiner of truth. All this man had to do was, an angel told you that, but I got this from the word of the lord. So we have a problem here. But he didn't. You know what's so sad?
43:11 Tell me about the king that this man confronted. What was his name? Jeroboam. Who was the king from the South? Sounds like Jeroboam.
43:21 Rehoboam. What was the downfall of Rehoboam? Ultimately, he took counsel from the wrong people. What was the downfall of Jeroboam? Same thing.
43:32 When he was scared about the allegiance of the northern tribes going back to the Southern Kingdom, he came up with this false religion, but he didn't come up come up with that on his own. It says he took counsel. Rehoboam took counsel. It led to his downfall. Jeroboam took counsel.
43:45 It led to his downfall. This man took counsel, and he's following in their steps. If you haven't learned yet from Rehoboam, if you haven't learned yet from Jeroboam, please, please learn from this man now. Be careful of the voices that are speaking into your life. You have three people in a row who messed up because of that one failure, taking in things that did not come from the Lord.
44:13 Let's read on, shall we? Verse 20. Verse 19 tells us that he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water. Now just imagine the sight. Here you have this man of God from Judah sitting at the table with this old prophet having dinner together.
44:30 And this nice quiet evening, all of a sudden now is interrupted by what we read in verse 20. And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, thus says the Lord, because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and you have not kept the command that the lord your god commanded you, but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, eat no bread and drink no water. Your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers. That's shocking. And I wonder if this man had a heart sinking experience in that moment while bread was still between his teeth.
45:11 Can you imagine that? Here you are thinking all is well. Oh, thankful that this angel came to this old prophet and tell me, you know what? I changed my mind. Come on over for dinner.
45:21 You can eat in this place. And then this man of God drops his fork, looks up, and says he cry I mean, I would've that's startling. And he gets a true word from the Lord. You've disobeyed God. How do we explain this?
45:36 How do we have this old prophet who is so compromised being a mouthpiece for for God? It's very easy. God can speak through whom he wills, when he wills to perform his will. You have Balaam where God took the curses out of Balaam's heart and transformed them through his lips to be blessings over Israel. You have Balaam who was rebuked when God spoke through his donkey.
45:59 And you have this man whom God used as a mouthpiece to get the attention of his servant from Judah. And the judgment is very clear, is it not? You're a dead man. And you will not receive the honor of being buried with your fathers. You look at that and you think to yourself, this just seems a little severe.
46:21 It seems a little bit intense. And maybe this judgment might tempt you and I to think and to reconsider the validity of this man from Judah's faith and his walk with the Lord. How can God call for the cessation of this man's life if he was truly a child of God? But let me remind you that both in the new and in the old testament, God, though sealing your faith through the blood of his son, Jesus Christ, will in his love and his wisdom implement discipline even to the degree of taking someone home early. And there are a few examples of this, and one comes to mind.
47:00 The one that comes to mind is in first Corinthians 11 verse 30, where Paul gives instructions about the lord's table, and the Corinthians were really, really, really messing up how they approach the Lord's table. And Paul gave commentary to why some of the believers in the church were experiencing certain things. And this is what he says in first Corinthians 11 verse 30, That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. Some have he was not talking about the world. He's talking about people in the church.
47:34 And here we read of different levels of discipline. You have some who are weak. You have some who are ill, and you have some who have even reached the point where they went home earlier than planned and hoped. But, you know, this may seem startling to us. Paul, it's so amazing.
47:51 In the same passage, just two verses later, assures the believer though though you may experience the heavy hand of the Lord because of your persistent disobedience and unrepentance, that doesn't mean that you lose your salvation. Look at verse 32 of first Corinthians 11. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Isn't that wonderful? Even in a text like this that seems so severe and so final and seems to dispel out the displeasure of the Lord, we're confident in realizing that even if a believer experiences some unusual activity in his life, moments and events in his life as a result of God as a father moving in to correct them, that doesn't change their standing before the Lord because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
48:42 That's how secure we are. Why would God do this though? It still begs the question. Why would the Lord ever see it necessary to even bring one of his children into glory before their time, at least their hoped and designed time? We will never know the full reasons behind his decrees, but it could be that in some cases, one has so tarnished their testimony.
49:08 Listen very carefully to this. It could be that one has so tarnished their testimony that the best thing to do after that is to say, okay. I I have to take you. Your your testimony here, the saltiness is so drained. It's so gone that the best thing to do out of this place is to say, son, daughter, you're coming home with me.
49:32 And it also could be that through this fatherly chastisement for disobedience, there would also be this sanctifying effect that would take place in those who are still alive. And that's exactly what we see in this story. You might be wondering why did this man of God have to die? And notice we didn't get a date of when it was gonna happen, but it happens the same day. Verse 23.
50:00 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. And as he went away, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it. The lion also stood beside the body. And so what this man didn't realize was this dinner that he wasn't supposed to have was in fact his last dinner.
50:27 He has a vehicle to be able to head back, and on his way back, a lion appears out of nowhere, slays the man, kills him. But then we're told that he was thrown into the road, and the donkey stood beside it, and the lion also stood beside it. Okay. Let's pause here, and let's collect everything that we learned from last week to this week to make sense of this moment. Right?
50:52 This man, when he comes from Judah, approaches king Jeroboam. He denounces him, tells him that the altar is gonna be desecrated. Your dynasty is done. He signs off by saying, I cannot eat or drink in this place. God told me not to, and he makes his way back.
51:08 On that journey, this old prophet comes, invites him to eat and drink. He disobeyed. And word gets around very quickly as we're about to find out. Had the man had lived, even if he didn't live, had king Jeroboam and the people in that moment heard that the man of God who rebuked them and told them that he himself, as an example of obedience, would not disobey the Lord, would that have hurt his message to Jeroboam? Would have hurt his testimony if after telling him what god told him to do, you do the exact opposite.
51:44 It wouldn't have helped the message. It could have possibly discredited altogether. And that's what this man did. He now tarnished his testimony and his message, and now the Lord in his wisdom has to find a new way to send a message to Jeroboam. In what way?
52:01 By killing his unfaithful servant. Saying why? To communicate that at this critical point in Israel's history that there is no one who is above the word of God. To communicate to king Jeroboam that disobedience will be met with judgment. So imagine if this news, which it does reaches Jeroboam.
52:26 How would that translate? This is how it translate. Jeroboam, if I'm willing to do this with my own prophet, what do you think I'm willing to do with you for rebelling against me? That's what's that's what's being projected here through this tragedy. And if you think that's a stretch, look at the end of this chapter and notice what happens in verse 33.
52:51 After this thing, after all that we're about to read here, this thing including the lion killing the man of God, after this thing, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from all among all the people. Any who would he ordained to be priests of of the high places. So after this thing took place, you would hope that something would happen to Jeroboam's heart. I mean, we see God here swiftly disciplining his his own servant, but we also see the incredible patience of God. Do we not?
53:23 Jeroboam comes and rebukes him, gives him a denouncement, gives him a prophecy. The altar breaks open. The ashes spill out. He stretches out his hand, it freezes, he prays, the hand comes back. And even after the man of god is slayed, he still wasn't getting it.
53:40 No matter what god tried to do to get this man to repent, his heart only got harder and harder and harder. And the Lord even did this in a in a way in which it would be undeniable that it was an act of God. How? Is it normal for a lion to slay a man and to just sit there? Is it normal for a donkey to sit beside a lion?
54:05 No. Naturally speaking, you would think that the lion would devour the man, devour the donkey, or the donkey would get away from there as soon as possible. But the sight that was seen by the travelers who made their way through this road was that there was a slain man, a lion standing there, a donkey standing there. This is weird. There's something here that's deep.
54:24 This is not a freak accident. This is not some unfortunate attack. This is divinely orchestrated. Go back to verse 25 to see exactly what I'm saying. And behold in other words, pay attention.
54:35 Look at this. And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body, and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. It became headline news. And so Jeroboam was not the only one who heard about this. Now the old prophet learns about it.
54:55 And this is where things get really interesting. We're almost done. Look at verse 26. And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, it is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the lord. Therefore, the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.
55:16 And he said to his sons, saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled it. And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. I mean, how many times do we have to hear about this lion and donkey?
55:35 So the man hears the news. He gets in his own car, makes his way to the place, and sure enough, there is the slain man, and there is the lion, and there is the donkey. And the Holy Spirit highlights specifically the lion. The last part of verse 20, the lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. You know what that's emphasizing?
55:56 Self control. This lion had self control. It it was not natural. Obviously, it was empowered by God. And I think that the reason why this is brought to our attention is to highlight just how dark it was in the days of Israel at this time.
56:16 You couldn't find evidence of obedience with the kings, whether from the South or from the North. And now we just learned you couldn't even find obedience with a prophet. But you know where you find obedience? An animal. Not with the kings, not with the prophets, a beast.
56:33 You have a beast that's submitting to the will of God. And it's almost like this strange sight. Right? This rebuke almost, this contrast. You can't find it in the people of God, but you can find it here with this animal.
56:48 You're supposed to feel grieved as you read that. Here's this lion who's not willing to have a meal for himself in the same context of a man of God who was told not to eat a meal and he did anyway. Verse 29. And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city to mourn and to bury him. And he laid the body in his own grave, and they mourned over him saying, alas, my brother.
57:19 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, when I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass. I'm confused by this guy. Are you not?
57:45 Sitting at my desk like, who is this person? In one reading, you see him comfortably blaspheming God, lying on behalf of God, dishonoring and disregarding the word of God. And in the next reading, you find this man revering the word of God, acknowledging the word of the Lord, even being broken over the loss of this man of God. How do you make sense of this? Well, some would be satisfied to say that this is just the perfect picture of those who have confusing convictions and conducts.
58:16 One day, they seem right with the lord. The next day, you don't know if they're a Christian. Another day, they seem kind of Christian. Or or or what just happened with this man awakened this old prophet? His conscience came alive again, and now he himself is disturbed about himself saying, really?
58:44 Perhaps. Notice again his request in verse 31. When I die, he says, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried. That's that's strange for somebody you just met. Being buried in an honorable place, in the place of your fathers was was something sought after by the patriarchs even.
59:04 They wanted to make sure that they were buried with their fathers, and yet this man felt this incredible need to be buried with this unnamed man of God from Judah. And notice his language very carefully. He says, lay my bones beside his bones. You know why that's significant? Go back to verse two of first Kings 13, and remember what the men of God said to Jeroboam.
59:30 Look at the last part of verse two. He says, 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. So one of the greatest acts of desecration would be that the bones of these false priests and messengers would be placed on these false altars and disrespected by being burned on the altars. And I'm persuaded that this man of God, in knowing that prophecy, and even knowing in the compromised condition that he was in, living in Bethel, having his kids, going to false worship services, lying on behalf of the name of God, did not want the same fate as these false priests. He did not want his bones to be burned on these altars.
1:00:21 He wanted to, as we just read, perhaps die the death of the righteous. I don't want to end the way I've been. I want to change. And more than that, he publicly acknowledges the prophecy that the men of God made about Jeroboam, and we saw how the reaction of Jeroboam shows that to make such a declaration would to put yourself in danger. Notice what he says in verse 32, for the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the house of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.
1:00:58 It's gonna happen. I believe that prophecy. Perhaps this man now is willing to acknowledge the truth and to not just keep it here, but to say it. It's gonna happen. I'm not afraid to say it.
1:01:13 It's gonna happen. And when it does happen, listen, I want to be buried with that man. I don't wanna be buried with these other people that are gonna be judged when Josiah comes on the scene. And perhaps the greatest piece of evidence that this man's conscience was awakened for the good is when Josiah actually does come on the scene. And Josiah does fulfill this prophecy where he takes the bones of these false priests and burns them, but notice something in our last text for tonight in second Kings 23.
1:01:46 So you're in first Kings. Go to the neighboring book. In second Kings 23, we're near three hundred years after this prophecy was declared, Josiah appears, and he brings judgment as it was foretold. But in second Kings twenty three seventeen, we read, then he said, what is that monument that I see? And the men of the city told them, it is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.
1:02:16 And he said, let him be. Let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. Don't touch the man of God's bones from Judah, and don't touch the prophet that was buried with him. If this indeed is true, then even with us going deeper and deeper into darkness, not only are kings disobeying, you have prophets, and the the ray of light in this whole story is a lion not eating the guy and not killing the donkey.
1:02:52 You have fresh air blow into your reading through this old prophet perhaps, showing some sign, some little sign of repentance. Realizing that God's word is true. I told you a couple weeks ago that these passages were gonna be a challenge, and there's gonna be more ahead. But here's what you and I are gonna end this bible study by doing. Asking the Lord to give us the grace and the strength so that we can worship and live for him, and not give that joy and honor to mere creation.
1:03:40 That we would be able to worship him and not give that duty to rocks. And we would go and do what he calls us to do when he tells us to do it, and be a shining light in the dark world. So with all that was said, very heavy bible study, but so good for us. Let's thank the Lord together. Lord, we thank you from our hearts that you have given us everything we need to not only be fruitful, but according to first Peter, be so equipped and furnished and invested invested in the disciplines and the truths of your word where Peter says that we may never fall.
1:04:28 And lord, even if we do fall, John tells us that we have an advocate. One who is our propitiation, who will freely and gladly forgive us of our sins when we confess them. Lord, if we have failed you consciously, lord, we ask that you would forgive us. Lord, we pray that you would cleanse us and make us strong again so that we can serve you. And, Lord, for the journey ahead, though we might have overcome temptation in the past, your word says, let he who stands take heed, lest he falls.
1:05:11 We do not presume nor do we boast in our strength. We, through these bible studies, are constantly reminded that we need your daily strength, your daily wisdom, your daily grace. Thank you that we never have to fear losing our salvation. But, oh lord, we're beyond that. We don't wanna miss out on being used by you in this life.
1:05:33 We don't wanna miss out having a testimony before a pagan world, pagan rulers, compromised prophets. We wanna be strong in our testimony. So, lord, we pray that we would not be lingering where we're not supposed to be lingering. Show us the places and the things that we went entertaining that are hurting us and draining our life from us instead of giving us the strength and the grace to be exactly who we've called us to be. Help us, lord.
1:06:01 Guide us, lord. We thank you for this bible study. We thank you for how rich it is. We thank you that in your love, you warned. That's why you've given us this history of what happened with your people in the past.
1:06:14 We embrace it. We we hold it tight to our bosoms, and we ask that, Lord, it would become real in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.
1:06:23 Brothers and sisters, just stand and worship the Lord and say thank you, Lord, for this word. Thank you, Lord, for how rich your word is. Let's give him glory tonight. Amen? And love him and adore him that we are secure in his hand.
1:06:45 Not only secure in his hand. You know, you have many people who are also fearful in another way. What if I miss out on God's plan for my life? What if I'm not holy enough? What if I'm not strong enough?
1:07:00 What if I'm not knowledgeable enough? What if I'm not pure enough? Do you realize that in having those concerns, you are in the greatest place that you can be in in your spirituality? Do you know who doesn't care about those things? People who don't wanna be used by God.
1:07:19 People that wanna be used by God think that way, and pray that way. And they say, Lord, I am far from perfect. I'm not worthy. And Lord, if there's any healthy fear that I want in my life, it's to veer off from your will for my life. When you have that holy concern, you are dead center in the will of God.
1:07:42 So don't be afraid. God wants to use you more than you wanna be used. Don't be concerned. God has the resources to make you who you need to be. He will not let go of you.
1:07:53 He will not let go of you. Let's sing, shall we?
