Through the Bible Study — 1 Kings 12–13

Good evening. How's everybody doing this week? Alive? Good to see all of those, all you faces out there. You want to stand with me, and I'll open us up in a word of prayer, and we can sing some praise to the Lord this evening. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for giving us this time, Lord, in our week that we can just come and kind of reset and refocus and get in the Word together

and sing praises together as the body of Christ. Lord, I just pray that you would bless our time, pray that you'd bless every person in here, and that you would just be blessed by everything that happens this evening, that you would be glorified in your name. Sorrow and dead in my sin, lost without hope, no place to begin. Love made a way to let mercy come in.

When death was arrested, and my life began. Ash was redeemed, only beauty remained. My orphaned heart was given a name. My mourning grew quiet, my feet rose to dance. When death was arrested, and my life began. So, washes over, it's your end. Pouring my chains, I'm a prisoner, no. My shame was ransomed, you faithful evil. Canceled my debt, and he called me his friend. And my life began.

Washes over, this rejoiced as though heaven. Then Jesus arose.

Washes over, yes we're free, yes we're free. So here I am to worship, here I, here I am to say. All to you. All together, all together, we're all together. All to you.

Oh, so highly exalted, yes in heaven. So here I am to worship, here I, here I am to say.

All together, lovely. All together, all together, we're all together. To see my sin, a pause, and I'll never see my sin. Upon, I am to worship, I am to say.

All together, all together, all together, all together, we're all to worship. Here I am to, I am to say that.

You're all together, lovely. All together, worthy. All together, all together, you step down into. Let all the earth rejoice. And all the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in darkness, tries to hide. And trembles at his voice, trembles at his voice.

Sing with me, hide his eye, and all will see.

How great beginning, beginning lion is I. Sing with, is our God. And all will see, and all will see. One true God. You just, thank you for revealing yourself to us. And wanting to have a relationship with us. And walk with us through everything that we go through in life. I just praise you. I pray this in your name, amen.

Good evening. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Kings chapter 12.

1 Kings chapter 12. Well, the last time that we were together, we saw that Solomon had, because of sin in his life, was told that the kingdom would be ripped out of his hands. He would maintain the kingdom while he was alive. But after his death, the kingdom would be ripped out of his hands. And God had raised up three enemies. One in the south, one in the north, and then one from within.

And the one from within is one of the guys that we're going to pay attention to for tonight's study. Because his name was Jeroboam. And Jeroboam had risen up as one who was, if you will, sort of a man of the people. Who kind of stood up for the people in their being overly taxed and overly worked. And had really kind of made a name for himself, both as a leader and as a warrior.

And because of what was going on with Jeroboam, Solomon had sort of driven him out of the land. And he had moved down to the land of Egypt. And the last that we saw, Jeroboam was living in Egypt. And Solomon finished off his reign. And he died and was buried in the city of his fathers. And so now we're going to chapter 12. Because now what we'll see is not only the reign of Solomon's son.

But we will see the divided kingdom. As a matter of fact, that's what I've entitled the message for chapters 12 and 13. Is the divided kingdom. And so we pick up in chapter 12, verse 1. And this is what it says.

From the presence of King Solomon. And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, Your father made our yoke hard. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us. And we will serve you. And he said, Depart for three days and then return to me. So the people departed.

So a scene has been set for us. Rehoboam. Rehoboam, who is the only son that's listed of Solomon. It's kind of interesting. You would think with 700 wives, perhaps there was more than one son. But the only one that we read of is this guy named Rehoboam. And Rehoboam, unfortunately, does not have the wisdom of his father. As a matter of fact, he does one wise thing in his entire life.

And that's to say, give me three days to think about something. Other than that, everything else that he does is stupid. He's a very foolish man. As a matter of fact, some of your Bibles may entitle this, Rehoboam acts foolishly. Or the foolishness. Rehoboam. And so, unfortunately, Solomon reaped what he sowed, if you will. Because he spent so much time sowing to the flesh that he reaped a foolish son in that place.

And so, Rehoboam goes to Shechem to be anointed as king there. And as he shows up, there's one particular individual that we pay attention to. And his name is Jeroboam. Jeroboam heard about the fact that Solomon was gone. He heard that Rehoboam was being anointed as king. And it's the... He's a man of the people, but also the man that God had told, you will be taking a portion of the kingdom.

Ten of the tribes will belong to you. Jeroboam says, now's the time. And so, he departs from Egypt, and he goes to Shechem as well, perhaps leading the questioning of the people. And so, as Rehoboam is anointed as king, Jeroboam is there as well. And the people decide they want to have a little bit of a conversation with Rehoboam. And they say, hey, listen, you need to understand something.

Your father taxed us heavily. To pay for all of the building projects that Solomon did, and to have all of the wealth that Israel had. There were heavy taxes that were upon the people. Interestingly enough, they didn't complain about it while Solomon was king. I think it's because, in Solomon's wisdom, he knew how to cast the vision for the kingdom. And so, while the people didn't enjoy paying the taxes,

they were willing to deal with it because they knew that he had set a really good vision for the people. And so, when Rehoboam takes over as king, and I think this is somewhat driven by Jeroboam, the people say, hey, listen, we've got a question for you. Is there any way that you could relieve some of the taxes that have been put upon us? They say, your father put a heavy yoke upon us, so is there any way that you could take that heavy yoke off of us?

If so, we will serve you. And the one wise thing that Rehoboam does in his entire life is to say, give me three days. Give me three days to think about it. Give me three days to consider what the best way to handle this would be. And so, he goes and asks two different questions. Two different groups of advisors. Notice what it says, verse 6. Then Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive,

saying, how do you counsel me to answer this people? And they spoke to him, saying, if you will be a servant to the people today and will serve them and grant their petition and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever. But he forsook the counsel of the elders, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him. And he said to them, what counsel do you give that we may answer the people who have spoken to me, saying, lighten the yoke which your father put on us?

The young men who grew up with him spoke to him, saying, thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying, your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us. But you shall speak to them, my little finger is thicker than my father's loins. Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.

Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, and said, return to me the third day. Now he consults two different groups of people. He first of all goes to the elders, those that had been advising his father. Now you would think if you're an advisor to the wisest man on the face of the earth, you're probably gonna have some pretty wise counsel.

And from a worldly perspective, they do give him very wise counsel. They say, hey listen, you need to realize something. If you serve these people, they're always gonna serve you. If you do something to curry their favor, then you will always have their favor. This is the one thing I'll say about the counsel of the elders, is that it's very politically correct.

It's all about you do something for them, and then maybe they'll do something for you. So in the world's eyes very wise, and probably the advice he should have followed, he says, I need to hear something else too. And there's nothing wrong with that. There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors to hear things from every direction. So he consults the young men.

And the young men who are sort of ready to show how strong they are, they say, here's what you need to say. If you think my father was tough, you ain't seen nothing yet. Right? I mean, that's basically what they tell him. They're like, listen, he may have been hard on you, but I'm gonna make your life miserable. Now that's the dumbest advice I could ever imagine giving someone in this particular instance.

Can we all agree with that? Stupidest thing you could ever do. But you know who, you know who Rehoboam never asks? Did you notice this? He went to the elders, there's nothing wrong with that. He went to the young men, I don't even think there's anything wrong with that. He never asked God. Did you notice that? Did you notice he never sought God? He never sought the wisdom of God in any of this.

And listen, there's nothing wrong with seeking out counselors, there's nothing wrong with seeking older counselors, there's nothing wrong with seeking younger counselors. But at the end of the day, if you need wisdom, well, the Bible says to ask. Because it says, if you, if you lack wisdom, let one ask of God, but let one understand that when you ask of God, He's going to answer. And don't have a, have a mind that's willing to go one way or the other when god gives you his wisdom you have to follow the wisdom of the lord well unfortunately rehoboam didn't have any wisdom and so so he followed the wisdom of the young men so jeroboam which is why this is why i think he was the leader

of the hey quit taxing us so much party like he was the tea party of the day um jeroboam and all the people came to rehoboam on the third day verse 12 as the king had directed and said return to me on the third day and the king answered the people harshly for he forsook the advice of the elders which they had given him and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men saying my father made your yoke heavy but i will add to your yoke my father disciplined you with whips but i will discipline you with scorpions so the king did not listen to the people for it was a turn of events from the lord that he might establish his word which the lord had spoken through a

the shilonite to jeroboam the son of nabot of course rehoboam makes the decision to to follow the advice of the young men and and he's feeling pretty good about himself you can kind of picture the scene right like he stands up with all of the fervor that he possibly can all of the all of the charisma that he possibly can and basically tells them he's going to make their life miserable which is what every leader really seeks to do right to make their lives miserable and and and i want you to notice the little commentary that's given to us in verse 15 is so important it says now the king did not listen to the people for it was a turn of events from the lord there's a turn of events from the lord you know there's a proverb that says spoken if i remember

correctly by solomon that says that god is able to guide the hearts of the kings like the rivers of water and sometimes god gives leaders that are a blessing to the people god gives leaders that are that are a blessing and do all of the right things for the people and everybody is blessed by their leadership and sometimes god gives leaders that are a curse for the people and ultimately end up bringing division or end up bringing problems but listen both sets of leaders come from god both are being guided and directed by god yeah i know it's true but that's what god had brought at this particular point in time is he brought a leader who would bring division the reason why he brought a leader that would bring division is because that was what was

necessary for the nation at this point in time and so notice how they respond in all israel verse 16 saw that the king did not listen to them the people answered the king saying what portion do we have in david we have no inheritance in the sons of in the son of jesse to your tents o israel now look after your own house david so israel departed to their tents but as for the sons of israel who lived in the cities of judah rehoboam reigned over them then king rehoboam sent adoram who was over the forced labor in all all israel stoned him to death and king rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to jerusalem so israel has been in rebellion against the house of david to this day

boy when you start acting stupid you just start piling up don't you that's exactly what rehoboam did so basically like hey what we don't have any part in in david this is this is not for us anymore you do your thing we're going to go do our thing and of course the 10 northern tribes are going to depart the two southern tribes are going to stick around with rehoboam and follow him so israel left the house of jesus and rehoboam is the son of israel and king rehoboam makes one last well one second to last ditch effort for unity and he sends basically a a delegate to them to see if he can bring some peace and he sends adoram now we're given the commentary on this on this guy

adoram he was in charge of the forced labor in other words part of his job was not only to be in charge of those who were forced into working remember jeroboam was the leader of those people and he was also in charge of the collection of the taxes increase. And so he sends the guy that collects all of the taxes to bring peace. See what I mean? Guy's just not making good choices right now. Once it starts to go downhill, it really goes downhill.

And of course, they kill this guy named Adiram. They stone him to death. And Rehoboam goes, I could be next. So he gets in his chariot and flees down to Jerusalem. So notice what the children of Israel do. Came about verse 20, that when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. None but the tribe of Judah

followed the house of David. Interestingly enough, that is exactly what God told Jeroboam was going to happen in 1 Kings chapter 11. In the years prior to this, after Solomon's sin, that's exactly what God said was going to happen. And so Rehoboam is going to make one last attempt for peace, or for reconciliation, but he's going to do so through war. Notice what it says,

Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. And so a civil war is about to start. 180,000 men armed for war, ready to go and take what they feel like rightfully belongs to them. And as you look at this, you think, my gosh, what has come of the nation of Israel? But notice how God's still

intervenes. It says, But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, Thus says the Lord, You must not go up and fight against your relatives, the sons of Israel. Return every man to his house, for this thing has come from me. So they listened to the word of the Lord, and returned and went their way according to the word of the Lord. I love this.

Here Rehoboam's ready to go to war to try to take back the kingdom that God had taken from him. He gathers 180,000 armed soldiers ready to go to war, and one guy stands up against him, a guy named Shemaiah. The only time we read his name in the entire Bible, and it's just mentioned this one time, and he does one simple thing, one simple act of obedience. And he goes to Rehoboam and all of the 180,000 men of war, and he says, Don't do this. This is not what God wants you to do. Put your

weapons down and go home. And they did. Now I point this out, because when you think about this man, who's mentioned one time in the Bible, in this one little story, you think, How can one insignificant man make that much difference? Because when one insignificant man is empowered by the Holy Spirit and commissioned by the Holy Spirit, he does powerful things. And I think that that's good for us to remember, because we can

sometimes think, I'm just one person. I can't make a difference. I'm just one person. God can't do anything with me. But look at what this guy did. Again, let's look at how he's described. The word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God. We're not told he's a prophet. We're not told he's a priest. We're not told he's a king. He's just a man of God, that God told him to do something. He was

empowered by the Spirit to do it, and he simply obeyed. And because he simply obeyed what God told him to do. An entire war was averted. Don't ever underestimate what God wants to do through one person, what God wants to do through one individual. I've perhaps shared this story before. I'm not sure, but it has come to my mind as I'm sharing about this right now. And it's the story

of a guy that was one of my teachers in Bible college. His name was Ray Bentley. He's home with Jesus now. But Ray Bentley told the story of when he came to faith. And it's an interesting story. He told the story of when he came to faith. And it's an interesting story. Because he said, growing up, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. I grew up in a home with a dad

that really liked to work. And he liked to work hard. The only time on the weekend that we ever got out of work is when there was a free movie at the movie theater. Well, one particular Saturday afternoon, there was a Billy Graham movie that had come out. And some church downtown had rented out the entire movie theater and invited anybody that wanted to come to a free viewing of this

Billy Graham movie. So my dad said we could go because it was a free movie and that was the only time we got out of work. He said, so we go to this movie and we watch this movie. He said, God got a hold of my heart. Like God really called me at that point in time. And he said, after the movie was done, the pastor got up in front of a theater full of people and he gave a salvation invitation. And he said, I was the

only person to come forward and receive Jesus. And he said, I've always looked back on that and thought, I bet that pastor thought that event was a failure. I bet that pastor thought that event was not anything that he thought that it was supposed to be. Until you realize what God did with the life of Ray Bentley, because he went on to start one of the largest churches in Southern California, where thousands and thousands of people have come through there and people have gotten saved through his ministry and people have been discipled through his ministry. Quite frankly,

I'm a part of his ministry because he poured into me in Bible college. And you think, just one person? Yep, just one person. Because you can never underestimate what God will do with one person. And so he calls this guy and he goes and he says, don't do this. And they don't. And they listened and they returned home, everyone to his tent. And I bet he was as shocked as anyone when

they didn't kill him, right? Like when he stood up in front of these guys, you guys should go home now. And they went home. He was like, thank God. I didn't know how that thing was going to go. Well, so Jeroboam is now king of the ten northern tribes. And Rehoboam is the king of the southern tribes. And God had made Jeroboam a promise. He said, as long as you follow me, as long as your heart is loyal to me, then I will

establish a household for you. I will establish the kingdom and your family will never cease to be on the throne of Israel if you follow me wholeheartedly. That was what he was told. But notice what happens. It says, Then Jeroboam built Shechem, which is a city up in northern Israel, in the hill country of Ephraim. And he lived there. And he went on from there and built Penuel. So far, so good. And Jeroboam said

in his heart, now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their Lord, even to Rehoboam, king of Judah. And they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So the king consulted and made two golden calves and said to them, is it too much? It is too much

for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt. He said one in Bethel, and he put another in Dan. And this became a sin for the people who went to worship before the one as far as Dan. Now, all of this started because of one of the one phrase. Jeroboam said in his heart. You see, Jeroboam allowed the intrusive thoughts to get to

him. Jeroboam allowed the fear to get to him. Jeroboam allowed the insecurity to get to him. And I bet, and I can't prove this scripturally, but I bet this all started with a little bit of fear planted in his heart by none other than Satan himself, who said, you know, when they go back to Jerusalem to worship, they're going to see the truth. And he said, you know, when they go back to

the temple, remember Solomon built a beautiful temple. They're going to see the temple, and they're going to think, how can we turn against our tribes? How can we turn against Solomon's son? And they're going to go back, and they're going to go back to where they were before, and then they're going to kill you. And all of it started because he was insecure in his calling, and he was

insecure in God's word. God had given him a message. God had given him a promise. God had given him a calling, but insecurity crept in, and he began to consider the truth. And he began to consider the truth in his heart. Listen, I think that there's a real message there for some of us here, because the lies of the enemy are all around us all the time. The lies of the enemy are constantly trying

to infiltrate our minds. They're constantly trying to infiltrate our thoughts. They're constantly trying to get deep down into our heart. And if the enemy can just get us to bite on it a little bit, then we'll begin to meditate on those lies, and we'll begin to believe the lies of the enemy. And pretty soon, we're doing things we should have never done, all because we started

believing the lies of the enemy. And this is exactly what happens with him. And so he says, I know what I'll do. Notice what it says, and the king consulted. Who did he consult? Well, some of the translations say he consulted in his own heart. He didn't consult God, because God would have been like, hey, just calm down. I've made you a king. I've given you a home. I've given you this

house. This is what I want you to do. If he had consulted God, almost feels like a theme tonight, he would have never ended up in this place, because God would have reminded him of the truth. But he didn't consult with God. He consulted in his own heart. And he says, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to build two golden calves. Where have we heard this before, right? I'm going to

build two golden calves. I'm going to put one down here in Shechem. That's sort of the southern portion of those 10 northern tribes. And I'm going to put one in Dan, which is all the way up towards the north. And those two golden calves will be the gods that they will worship. And so he builds these golden calves. And notice what he tells us. He says, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to

build two golden calves. I'm going to put one down here in Shechem. That's sort of the southern portion of those 10 northern tribes. And he says, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to put one down here in Shechem. That's sort of the southern portion of those 10 northern tribes. And he says, behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Word for word, what Aaron said in the wilderness. And you're kind of like, really? Haven't we seen this tree before? Like, shouldn't we know what's going on right now? But listen, listen. If we don't learn from the mistakes of the past, we'll continue to repeat the mistakes of the past, because we will always fall to the lowest common denominator. And idolatry is what we will always fall back into. So he builds these gods. Now, many commentators

pointed out, and I think it's a valid point to be made, he wasn't trying to do away with the worship of God. He was just giving them images of God so that they wouldn't go to the temple of God. He said, these are your gods. You should worship them. And he builds a counterfeit religion. Because listen, Satan has no problem with religion, as long as it's a counterfeit religion.

He has no problem with you going to church, as long as you don't really worship Jesus. He has no problem with you reading the Bible, as long as you're not getting in touch with the God of the Bible. He has no problem with religion, as long as it's only a counterfeit. And that's what he does here. Notice some of the things that he does with this counterfeit religion. He says, so he set one

up in Bethel, verse 29, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin as the people went to worship. And he made houses on high places. And he made priests from among the people. And he made the people, pay attention though, who were not of the sons of Levi. Some of the translations say who were of the common people. Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the 15th day of the

month, like the feast which is in Judah. And he went up to the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel priests of the high places which he had made. And he went up to the altar which he had made on the 15th day in the eighth month. He had devised in his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel. And he

went up to the altar to burn incense. Isn't it fascinating the counterfeit that he creates? He puts high places almost like temples, or he builds houses on the high places almost like temples, kind of like the temple of God. He has an image for these gods, only rather than it being the Ark of the Covenant, it's a golden calf. He builds a priesthood, but not of the Levites,

of the common people. He comes up even with a new feast day that's sort of coincided with the Feast of Tabernacles. And then he, of course, establishes worship of these gods. And it's all in a counterfeit. Now, brothers and sisters, we should pay attention to something here, because I bet you're thinking to yourself right now, I would never do that. I would never

build myself a golden calf that looks just like God, but it's not really God. That has its own priesthood, but it's not really the priesthood. That has its own feast days, but it's not really the priesthood. That has its own feast days, but it's not really the priesthood. That has its own feast day. I would never build myself a counterfeit religion. We do have to be careful

about this, because oftentimes we can be guilty of saying this one statement. Have you ever noticed this one before? Well, my God wouldn't do this. Listen, once we begin to fashion a God after ourselves, we've begun to create a counterfeit religion. I noticed this on social media sometimes. I've learned that you cannot debate anybody on social media. I've learned that lesson.

I just leave it alone. I just move on. Hard for me sometimes, but I just move on, because people put things on there. They want to put a religious statement and a quick little meme on social media. It's like, well, I don't have the room to debate the complexity of what they just put on there, because the lack of context alone won't allow me to do that. I'd have to build an entire context, so I'd have to have a conversation. I've learned not to

do that, but I do notice the statement that shows up a lot. Well, you know, my God. Well, you know, my understanding. of Jesus. Well, you know, my understanding of the Bible. Anytime we throw the phrase, my understanding in there, we should always be a little bit careful. We should always be a little bit careful if we start fashioning something that looks too much like us. And listen, I say that to

liberal Christians, and I say that to really conservative Christians, okay? Because we can all do it. We can all fashion a God that looks just like us. We can all fashion a God that fits our little mentality, that fits our little ideology, that fits our little idea of what we think God is supposed to look like. And sometimes we, like Joshua, have to stand there

and say, are you on our side? And God says, that's not the question. The question is, are you on my side? And that's what we have to do with God. So we have to remind ourselves, it's not about getting God on our side. It's about making sure that we're on his side. And the problem with Jeroboam is he wants to create something false so that people won't really go and leave. And in order to do

that, he has to counterfeit everything about the truth. Listen, here's the thing about the Word of God. Here's the thing about Jesus, and here's the thing about truth. It should constantly shape me, not the other way around. It should constantly be shaping who I am. I should not be constantly shaping the truth. If I'm shaping the truth, then I've probably screwed everything up. I will guarantee some

things that I thought 20 years ago, I don't think anymore. There's some ideas that I had 20 years ago that God has absolutely blown out of the water. And I've gone, but I thought you were like this, like, well, I know you did. That's why I allowed this to happen, because that's not what I'm really like. Because he is constantly shaping me with his truth. And as long as our hearts are open to that,

we're okay. But the moment our hearts become like Jeroboam to say, I want to fashion a God like me, we have real big problems. And so Jeroboam does all of this, and there's one phrase that I think that you should pay attention to, and it's in the middle of verse 33. Let me read verse 33. Again, it says that he went up to the altar, which he had made in Bethel on the 15th day of the

eighth month, even in the month, pay attention, which he had devised in his own heart. And he instituted a feast for Israel. I think if there's one question we should ask ourselves every time we approach God's word is, is there anything that I've devised in my own heart? If there is, tear it down. Because that's the only way that we can approach God's word,

is to get rid of it. Get rid of the things that we've devised in our own hearts, and allow God to be the one that shapes us. It goes on in chapter 13 to say this, now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel, by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar by the word of the Lord. And he said, O altar, altar, thus says the Lord,

behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. And on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones which shall be burned on you. And then he gave a sign the same day, saying, this is the sign which the Lord has spoken. Behold, the altar shall be split apart, and ashes which 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 in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, seize him. But his hand, when he stretched it out against him, dried up so that he could not draw it back to himself. And the altar was split apart, and ashes were poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. The king said, please entreat the Lord your God, and pray for me that my hand may be restored to me. So the man of God entreated the Lord,

and the king's hand was restored to him. And it became as it was before. And the king said to the man of God, come with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a sign. And the man of God said, I will give you a reward. But the man of God said to the king, if you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. For so it was commanded

me by the word of the Lord, saying, you shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came. So he went another way, and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel. Here we have another kind of interesting man. He's just, he's unnamed, just the man of God. And he's given a mission. You need to go to Jeroboam. You need to cry out against the altar.

And you need to prophesy against him, because we've got to change the course of things. And so that's what he does. He goes, and he cries out against the altar. He says, oh, altar. He gives this very interesting, very specific prophecy. Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. And he goes on to tell how Josiah will destroy the altar,

and he will destroy the priests that served at this altar. Now, it's interesting, because this man, Josiah, absolutely does come about, but it's not for over 300 years. As a matter of fact, go with me one place in scripture. I think I had it put it up there. Go to 2 Kings, chapter 23. 2 Kings, chapter 23. And I want you to look down at verse 15. This is the reign of Josiah, the king, and all of the reforms that Josiah made.

2 Kings, chapter 23, verse 15. It says this. Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel in the high place was Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, had made Israel's sin, ugeh, had made even the altar in the high place, he broke down. He demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and he burned the Asherah.

And when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were on the mountain, and he sat and took the bones of the graves, and he burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the men of God proclaimed, who proclaim these things. He said, What is this monument that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the grave of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel he said let him alone let no one disturb his bones so they left his bones undisturbed but the bones of the Prophet who came from Samaria in that great he gives the specific name of the king that's coming his name is gonna be Josiah he's gonna destroy the altar he's gonna destroy

every priest that was on the altar over 300 years later Josiah comes along God doesn't work in Josiah's heart he begins to make reforms in the kingdom and you know what he does exactly what the man of God says he's gonna do and so he back to chapter 13 of 1st Kings so so he makes this this declaration against the altar of course Jeroboam gets all like huffy about it right and he puts out his hand says seize him and when he puts out his hand I love it his hand begins to shrivel up it came pull it back says it dried up right like I pictured sort of a Raiders of the Lost Ark sort of a moment like his hands just like yeah right that's what I started seeing in my own brain I can't promise that but but that's what I feel like happened

so I try to in this little verse she says one more time Jesus where am I from my relationship to Jeroboam they're kind of totally saucey the snares of him and so prodding him and that he does something great they tell situation never get old right when you're in Israel what happens is they fall into a wound and you're in the 38th week to the ears of the enemy is important and he's wake all up God we can see in this part that you've seen this that people can see how they change this place and then he says we need to change that we can't change this world Jesus says pray for me God did a great job of all of this judgment, this man of God is still willing to show grace. I point that out, brothers

and sisters, because we live in a world full of very sinful people right now. And they're not always going to love your message. They're not always going to love what the gospel says. But there is going to come a point in time when they say, will you pray for me? And all you can do in that moment is show them grace. And they will have the choice to make whether or not they will then

follow God or not. Because your job is to show that kind of grace. And that's what this man does. He prays for him. His hand is restored. And Jeroboam says, oh, why don't you come stay at my house? And this guy's like, I ain't staying at your house. God told me don't eat bread here. God told me don't drink water here. Don't even take the same road to go home. Because eating there would

have made him a part of the community. It would have shown his blessing on that nation. And he said, I can't do it. So he turns around, and he heads home. And he would think Jeroboam would be like, that's it. Tear it all down. We'll deal with Jeroboam again in just a moment. But for now, we have to deal with this man of God. It says, now an old prophet was living in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man

of God had done that day in Bethel. The words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father. Their father said to them, which way did he go? The sons had seen the way which the man of God had done that day in Bethel. And they said to him, which way did he go? And the man of God had come from Judah had gone. And they said to his sons, saddle the donkey for me. So

they saddled the donkey, and he rode away on it. He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. And he said, come home with me and eat bread. He said, I can't return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. For a command to me by the word of the Lord, you shall eat no bread nor drink water,

not return by going the way which you came. And he said to him, I also am a prophet like you. And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him. Now I've battled with this story for like the past three days, right? Why on earth did this prophet lie to this man of God? And you know what

I figured out? I have no idea. Nobody has any idea. Nobody addresses why this prophet did this. Why did he lie to him? Whatever it was, I want you to notice the one thing he didn't say. Yes, but God told me you should come home with me. No, what did he say? An angel told me you should come home with me. But the guy's going to believe him. Notice what it says. Now it came about,

oh, excuse me, verse 19. So he went back with him. And ate bread in his house and drank water. And it came about as they were sitting down at the table that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. He cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, thus says the Lord, because you have disobeyed the command of the Lord and have not obeyed. Observe the commandment which the Lord your God commanded

you, but have returned and eaten bread, drunk water, in the place of which he said, eat no bread and drink no water. Your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers. It came about after he had eaten bread. After he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. Now when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the road

with the donkey standing beside it. The lion was also standing beside the body. And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, the lion standing beside the body. So they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. Can you imagine walking up on that scene? All right, so the prophet looks at him and says, you disobeyed God. And you know the man of God had to have been like, duh, I told you I wasn't

supposed to do this, right? Again, there's a lot about this story I don't understand. I don't have to understand. I'll pull a couple lessons out of it in just a moment. But he looks at him and says, you disobeyed God. You are not, you're going to die and not be buried with your fathers, which would have been like a curse at that point in time, right? So the guy leaves, and as he's riding

his donkey, a lion attacks him, kills him, doesn't eat him up, leaves the donkey alone, and they're lying on the ground. And he says, you disobeyed God. And you know the man of God had to have been like, the ground is a dead dude plus a donkey and a lion. This feels like a joke waiting to happen, right? Can you imagine walking up on that? And there's a lion that's just like,

and the donkey's just like, and there's a dead dude there. And they're like, we got to tell the prophet about this. So somebody comes back and tells the prophet about it. He goes, I know exactly who that is. It says in verse 26, when the prophet who had brought him back from that way heard, he said, it's the man of God who disobeyed the command of the Lord.

Therefore, the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him. And then he spoke to his son saying, saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled it. And he went, found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey,

which every commentator agreed indicates the fact that this was the hand of God bringing judgment on this man of God. It says he went and found his body thrown on the road, the donkey, and the lion standing beside it. The lion hadn't eaten the body nor torn the donkey. So the prophet took up the body of the man of God. He laid it on the donkey, brought it back. He came to the city

of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. And he laid his body in his own grave. And they mourned over him saying, alas, my brother. And after he had buried him, he spoke to his son saying, when I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried and lay my bones beside his bones. For the thing shall surely come to pass. And he said, I will bury you in the grave. And he said, I will bury you

to pass, which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places, which are in the cities of Samaria. Now, interestingly enough, that's exactly what you read in second Kings, that passage that we read earlier, that he came across the bones of a man. And they said, who's that? Well, that's the man of God that spoke against the altar. And he's buried with the man from Samaria. That was the prophet. I think this

prophet kind of felt bad about what he'd done. Perhaps he looked upon this man and he said, this guy's worn out. He looks worn out from his journey. I've got to convince him to stay with me. And so he told him a lie to get him to stay with him. Maybe that's why he did it. I don't know. Here's what I do know. There's a handful of things I think that we learn about this from this man of

God who did not completely obey the Lord. Number one, when God speaks, you need to obey. You need to obey what God has to say, no matter what anybody else has to tell you. All I could think of during this whole thing is the book of Galatians. When Paul was so upset, that they had turned away from the true message of the gospel. And do you remember what Paul told

them? Even if I or an angel from heaven were to preach to you a different gospel, let him be anathema. Let him be accursed. Because anything that would pull you away from the purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ is sin. And listen, there are all kinds of religions out there that where do they say they get their religion from? They've received it from an angel, right? And so we have

to pay attention to this because when God speaks, we need to, we need to pay attention to this. We need to listen to what God has to say. And when God speaks through his word, we need to realize this is God's word and we're supposed to pay attention to it. And so when it comes to what God has to tell us, we need to obey what he has to tell us. Listen, even if nobody else understands

it, even if nobody else agrees with it, when you obey God, it's the safest possible place that you can be. The second thing that we learn is this. Obedience requires determination. Obedience requires determination. If you think about it, it would have been very hard for him to be determined against this older man of God, against this older man of God, against this older man of God, against

this older prophet who is trying to say he's received a message too, and that he should obey it. In order to really obey God in situations like that, you have to remain determined. There's a certain amount of determination that comes with obeying God that says, I don't care what anybody else says. I don't care what anybody else does. I'm going to keep doing what God has called for

me to do. I'm going to keep going where God wants me to go. And that's a hard thing to do because there will be pressure from outside sources. And sometimes the greatest pressure that you'll have is from people within the church. Have you ever noticed that when you really get serious in your walk with Jesus Christ, sometimes it's other Christians that are the ones that push against you the hardest? Sometimes other Christians are like, why are you

taking this so seriously? Why are you being so determined? Why are you making the rest of us look bad, right? Why? Because you're making them look bad. And so they're like, you can relax a little bit. Don't take obeying God so seriously. No, take it that seriously. Because obeying God takes determination. And the third thing I think that we learned is the same thing that we learned

last week. Finish. Well, it's not just about starting good. It's about finishing good. It's not just about starting well and starting in obedience. It's about finishing well. This guy did one of the most difficult things that I could imagine. He went to one of the most powerful men in the country at that point in time, and he called him out for his sin. And then when the guy tried to put him to

death, he prayed that he would be healed. That's amazing obedience to the Lord. And yet when it came right down to it, he believed a lie. And because he believed a lie, he didn't finish well. Now, I believe that this man will see in heaven. You know why I believe that? Because of the way that he is treated with such respect in the book of 2 Kings, because as God saw fit to record that in 2 Kings, he does so with great

respect. I think this is an instance where a man had fallen into sin, and so God dealt with him, but his soul was still secure. But we do have to finish well. Speaking of finishing, end of chapter 13. It says, After this event, What a sad commentary on Jeroboam. He received the same calling from God. He received a promise from God. And he ultimately was empowered to do what God had called for him to do. But because of idolatry,

because he began to believe the lies of the enemy, he never did repent of his sin. And he continued on. One commentator that I wrote said this, Jeroboam did not live in obedience and therefore never saw the full potential of his kingdom. Jeroboam did not live in obedience and therefore never saw the full potential of his kingdom. It says in the word that God's spirit,

which is to and fro for those whose hearts are true to him. And Jeroboam was not one of those people. And I think the saddest thing about Jeroboam is that he will become the standard for evil kings in Israel. You see, now that the kingdom is divided, the rest of the books of 1 and 2 Kings will follow both the southern kingdom and their kings and the northern kingdom and their kings. And in the northern kingdom, every king is going to be considered a sinful king,

and the same thing will be said of all of them. He followed the sins of Jeroboam. And he will be the standard for sin. The only one that was considered worse than him was Ahab. And Ahab was said to be worse than Jeroboam. But what an unfortunate thing to be the one who has used as the standard for evil as kings. All because he would not really believe what God had told him.

Brothers and sisters, hold tight to the truth of the word of God, because the lies of the enemy are coming to you. And the truth of the word of God is coming to you. And the truth of the word of God is coming to you. And the truth of the word of God is coming to you. And we don't want to find ourselves in a place like Jeroboam. Amen? Father, we come to you now, and we thank you that you

allow us to learn these lessons from these men of God. And Lord, may our hearts stay true to you. And Father, as the enemy wants to tell us lies over and over again, may we hold tight to what your truth has to say, to what the truth of your word has to say. And Father, may your truth shape who we are. Lord, protect us. Protect us from the from the ability to try to create other gods. To try to create gods after our own image. To try to

counterfeit what you really want to do. And Lord, keep our hearts true to you, we pray. Father, we thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.