Good evening, let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 228. 228. My faith has found a resting
place Not in divides nor creed I trust the ever-living One His
words for me shall be It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves,
this ends my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to Him
He'll never cast me out I need no other argument I need no other
plea It is enough that Jesus died and for me. My heart is leaning on the word,
the written word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name. Salvation through His blood. No other argument, I need no
other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My great physician heals the
sick The lost he came to save For me his precious blood he
shed For me his life he gave I need no other argument Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
255. 255 Blessed assurance Jesus is mine
O what a foretaste of glory divine of salvation, purchase of God,
born of His Spirit, washed in This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending ring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Perfect submission All is at
rest I in my Savior Am happy and blessed Watching and waiting,
looking above. Filled with His goodness, lost
in His love. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my song, praising my Savior all the day
long. Good evening. Can we turn to
Psalm 72? I was reading that article from
Paul Mahan in the Bulletin, and he spoke about one of the, one part of this psalm, and I
started reading it. Psalm 72. Give the king thy judgments,
O God. and thy righteousness under the
king's son. He shall judge thy people with
righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall
bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness.
He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children
of the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They
shall fear thee as long as the sun and the moon endure throughout
all generations. He shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass as showers that water the earth. In his
days shall the righteous flourish, an abundance of peace so long
as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from
sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They
that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his
enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and the
Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall
offer gifts. Yea, all the kings shall fall
down before him. All nations shall serve him.
For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also,
and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy,
and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their
souls from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood
be in his sight. And he shall live, and to him
shall be given the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made for
him continually, and daily shall he be praised. There shall be
a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains.
The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the
city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall
endure forever. His name shall be continued as
long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him. All nations
shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. and blessed
be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled
with his glory. Amen and amen. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father,
Lord, we thank you so much. Lord, for your goodness, and
you do wondrous things, Lord. Thank you. Thank you for these
people here that you've called out of the world, Lord. Lord,
I ask that you would be with the sick that need you, Lord. Be their help. Lord, we pray
for our family. We ask that you do for them what
no one else can do, Lord. We pray. Help them, Lord. Help. Lord, we thank you for our pastor,
for his labor, and for all that he does for us. Lord, thank you
so much for a place to come and hear the truth. Lord, we ask
that you'd be with our family that don't know you, and we'd
ask that you would help them, Lord. Lord, be merciful to them. And we ask all these things in
Christ's name. Amen. Hymn number 199. 199. Sinners
Jesus will receive. Send this word of grace
to all. Who the heavenly pathway leads. ? All to linger, all to fall
? Sing it o'er and o'er again ? Christ receive that sinful
man ? Make the message clear and plain ? Christ receive Come and He will give you rest. Trust Him for His word is plain. He will take the sinful list. Christ received the sinful man. ? More and more again ? Christ
receive a sinful man ? Make the message clear and plain ? Christ
receive a sinful man Now my heart condemns me not. Here before the law I stand. He who cleansed me from all spot,
satisfied its lasting blend, singing again. Christ, receive us in
your name. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive us in Christ receiveth sinful men,
even me with all my sin, purged from every spot and stain, ? O'er and o'er again ? Christ,
receive that sinful man ? Make the message clear and plain ?
Christ, receive that sinful man Open your Bibles if you have
them with me tonight to 1st Kings chapter 13. I preached from 1st
Kings 12 last week and Steve Vinson asked
if it was going to go on down through here and I thought, well,
hadn't thought about it. And then I got to reading about
it and I thought, well, yeah, I might as well. You know, I actually need to
read down to verse 30, but I'm not going to. I'm going to read
down to verse 17. And behold, there came a man
of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel. And
Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against
the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar,
thus saith the Lord, behold, a child shall be born into the
house of David, Josiah by name, and unto thee, upon thee shall
he offer the priests of the most high places, the priests of the
high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall
be burnt upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day,
saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken. Behold,
the altar shall be rent, split in two, and the ashes therein
shall be poured out. And it came to pass, when King
Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which he had
cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from
the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put
forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it
again to him. The altar also was rent, and
the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which
the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. And the king
answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the face
of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored
me again. And the man of God besought the
Lord, and the king's hand was restored unto him again, and
became as it was before. And the king said unto the man
of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I'll give
thee a reward. And the man of God said unto
the king, If thou would give me half thine house, I will not
go with thee, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this
place. For it was charged me by the
word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor
turn again by the same way that thou camest. So he went another
way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. Now
there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel. And his sons came and
told him all the works that the man of God had done that day
in Bethel, and the words which he had spoken unto the king.
Them they told also to their father. And their father said
unto them, Which way went he? For his son had seen which way
the man of God had went. which came from Judah. And he
said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass, so that they saddled
him the ass. And he rode thereon, and went
after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. And
he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said
unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. And he said, I
may not return with thee, nor go in with thee, neither will
I eat bread, nor drink water with thee in this place. For
it was said unto me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no
bread, nor drink any water therein, nor turn again by the way. And
now look what the prophet said, the old man said to him, verse
18, he said unto him, I am a prophet also as you are. And the angel
spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back
with thee in thine house, that he may eat bread, and drink water.
But he lied unto him. So he went back with him, and
did eat bread in his house, and drank water." This is a, of course I'm going
to deal with it all the way down to verse 31, but you know this
is a sad, sad story, it really is. you see someone used of God
and then he was lied to, he was lied to by a prophet, a prophet,
he was lied to. And then a lion caught him and
killed him, and killed him. And oh, I want to deal with seven
things about this man of God. I want to deal with seven things
about him in this chapter if the Lord will enable me. And
you know, It's a sad, sad time when you see something like this,
when this prophet lied to him, but it's not unusual for preachers
to lie. But the first thing I want to
tell you about this man, he was a true believer, he was a true
believer. It says there in verse 1, Behold,
there came a man of God, he was a man of God, He was a real,
true believer. God called him, God set him apart. He wasn't a man of the world,
no, no. You know, his portion wasn't
in this world, and his life wasn't committed to this world. He had
personal dealings with God Almighty Himself, and I tell you, his
heart and soul and body belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ, belonged
to God. He wasn't just a professor of
religion, he really wasn't. He wasn t one of these fellas
that just served His time and wanted to be done with it, but
He was a servant of the Most High God. He was called the Man
of God, and He came from Judah, came from Judah. He was a true
believer, a true believer, and you know it s a wonderful thing
to be called of God, to be called a true believer, and the only
way you can be called a true believer is to be called of God.
and God set this man apart. Then look at the SECOND thing
about him. He was a man with a MESSAGE. If God ever sends
a man, calls a man, and he s a man of God, he s a man, he s got
a MESSAGE, and he s going to DELIVER God s MESSAGE. And here
s his MESSAGE. Look in verse 1, He said, He
came by the word of the LORD. That s the first thing I want
you to do, He came by the word of the LORD. You know, He didn
t say, Well, listen, And I've seen preachers do this. Anybody
that wants to go preach, anybody that feels like the doors ought
to be open for them, and that's to come and preach. I wouldn't
ask them to preach, but here's a man of God, he came by the
Word of the Lord, and he came to Bethel. Now, let me tell you
something about Bethel. You know, the word Bethel was
first found in Genesis 28, chapter 28. left his mom and daddy s house,
and he went by the way, and he laid down and went to sleep.
And while he was asleep, God came down with a ladder, and
came down, and the angels came up and down on that ladder, and
he woke up the next morning and said, God is in this place! And
he called this, he said, I'll call this Bethel. It was a city
in Luz and he said, I'll call it from Bethel from now on. He
said, because this is the house of God. God came to this place
right here. And that's how Bethel got its
name. And Bethel means the house of God. So they had this Bethel,
he went to Bethel and he came by the word of the Lord under
Bethel where the house of God was. But yet they had a false
worship in Bethel. I tell you something about he
didn t come with his opinion, didn t come with his opinion.
He didn t come as a commentator to make comments on the Word
of God. He was a man that God gave him a ministry. God committed
the Word of God to him, committed to him by the Lord Himself, and
he came with a message of warning, and he came with a message of
condemnation, That s the thing about it, you know, a word of
warning and a word of condemnation, and here he comes and he comes
preaching, and I tell you what, a man of God, here s the thing
about the difference in God-called preachers and just preachers.
You know, God FITTED this man. You know, God's got to GIFT a
man, got to FIT a man for the office, and he's a VESSEL, that's
all he is, is a VESSEL in God's hand. And that's why Paul's asked
one time, he said, Who is SUFFICIENT for these things? Who is SUFFICIENT
for them? He said, We have this TREASURE.
The gospel, the Word of God is a TREASURE. It's what a treasure
it is, and our Lord even said a good man out of his treasure
brings new things and old things, and so we have this treasure
in earthen vessels, in clay pots, and the thing is, is the MESSAGE,
and that's what this man had. He had a message, and I'll tell
you, and he used this message, and it was committed to him,
and he stayed true to his message. Oh, he was a true believer and
he was a man with a message. He came by the word of the Lord.
And that's what I, somebody, I believe it was Steve's dad
come down here several times years and years ago, Felix. And he was here in some of our
meetings and he said, one thing I know about you all said, you
reverence the word of the Lord. you pay ATTENTION to the Word
of the Lord, you REVERENCE what God has to say. And that s one
other thing, another thing we do, and I hope and I think every
preacher that comes here does this, we take the Bible and wherever
we re preaching from, we use THAT PARTICULAR PORTION. We stay
true to what it s saying right there. that s what we re trying
to do here tonight. And then not only was he a true
believer and he was a man with a message, came with the Word
of the Lord, but he had some COURAGE. This man had some COURAGE. Look what he said in verse 2,
Now he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and
said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord. He cried against the altar, Oh,
he said, Thus saith the Lord, O altar, O altar, thus saith
the Lord. He testified with a loud voice
against this altar. What altar? Look what it says
there. It says that Jeroboam came there
to offer, back up there in verse 33, he offered incense upon the
altar. that s where Jeroboam stood offering
incense upon this altar, and he cried against the altar in
the word of the Lord. Oh, my, you know, to have an
altar! God had an altar! You know, they had the burnt
offering. They had five offerings that they gave in the tabernacle,
five offerings that they gave, and then the last offering that
was ever offered in this world was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. NEVER been another offering,
NEVER been another sacrifice that put away sin, NEVER been
anybody that ever did what Christ did, and I'll tell you what,
and He was ALL of those five sacrifices put together. And
I tell you this, He cried against this altar, but now we have an
altar, and that altar is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. You
know where we worship at? In Christ. You know where we
get our sacrifice from? From Christ. But this is an altar,
that man-made altar. This is an altar that they was
a false altar, a phony offer, one by a sinful man that He created
for Himself. he testified with a loud altar,
and this altar, you remember I told you last week this altar
was built by Jeroboam, it was an altar of convenience so folks
wouldn't have to go someplace else, and oh my, and even while
the king, the king was standing there, it said there in verse
1, Jeroboam was standing there when he cried against that altar,
and oh, the word of God burned in his bones, and he had to speak
the things which he heard." You know, the scripture says, What
I believe, that also I speak. You remember when Peter and John
was going up to the temple to pray, and there was a lame man
standing there, And he was begging, and Peter and John said, I ain't
got no money, we ain't got no money, but what we've got to
you, we give you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that man received strength in his legs and his bones, he got
up and went to shouting and running and worshiping the Lord. Well, that upset the rulers and
leaders in the council that day. So they went and got these men,
brought Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, sent them before
the whole council, And they told him this, he says, Now, we don't
want you to preach in this man's name anymore. Don't do that no
more. Don't do that anymore. Don't
want to hear his name mentioned around here anymore. You know
what Peter told him? He said, Whether we ought to
obey God or you, you make the judgment. He said, You know,
we can only speak what we've seen and what we've heard. And
they walked out of that place. And that's the way this fellow
was. He didn't always speak what God told him to say. And I'll
tell you, they heard him. They heard him. And I'll tell
you, look what else he was. Not only did he have some courage,
had some courage, he had some power. God gave him
some power. Look what he goes on to say down
in verse 3, 4, and 5. And he gave a sign the same day.
He said, they're going to offer men's bones upon this altar one
of these days, and there was. And he gave a sign the same day
saying, this sign which the Lord has spoken, behold, the altar
shall be rent. That means it's going to split
in two, going to bust in two, going to break open. And then
he went on to say, and the ashes there upon it shall be poured
out. And then it came to pass, watch what happens now. The king
reached forth his hand and said, lay hold on him. The king said,
catch that preacher. That's what he said, catch that
man, lay hold on him. Well, Jeroboam rushed out to
get him himself. Lay hold on that man. He raised
his hand out and it withered up. He couldn't pull it back to himself. He rushed out there to get a
man and his hand just dried up, shriveled up to nothing, shriveled
up to nothing. And oh my, and his hand which
he put forth against him dried up. He couldn't pull it back
to him again. And just exactly what that preacher
said, look what happens now. The altar was rent. and the ashes
poured out according to the sign which the men of God had given
by the word of the Lord." Oh, my! You know, when God tells
a man what to say, believe me, it going to happen just like
God said it going to happen. It always has and it always will
be. It never has failed yet. You
know, it never has failed yet. When our Lord sends a man with
a message, He gives EVIDENCE to that message by giving POWER
to that message, and USING that message, and DO what God intends
for it to do. Now, you know I don't know, and
you don't know exactly what God's doing for each individual in
a meeting, but God knows everybody and what they need, and everybody
gets what they need in any service that they're ever in. But oh,
this man had POWER! He spoke in the name of the Lord!
He spoke the Word of God! And when God works through His,
you know, there s a couple of places where the Lord done a
WONDERFUL WORK, and you know what He said? He said, We ve
seen strange things today. When our Lord went and done some
works, mighty works, and they said, Boy, we ve seen strange
things today. I tell you what, If God does anything, it'll be
strange to the world. And oh my, bless His name, I'm
so thankful, so thankful that He came to me. Oh, I'm thankful
He came to where I was. And we can question whether God's
working or not, not by signs, the Jews required a sign, the
Greeks seek after wisdom. But God made Christ unto us something
else. He made Him our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption. We re not looking for signs,
but everybody wants a sign. But I tell you, our Lord Jesus
said, The only sign I m going to give this evil generation
is the sign of the prophet Jonah. Well, what s the sign of the
prophet Jonah? Well, he got on a boat, and he got on that boat, and
he was out of the will of God. And what happened on that boat?
There was a big storm come up, and they said, everybody pray
to their gods. That's the first thing that,
pray to your god, you pray to your god, you pray to your god,
everybody's god, call on them. Nothing happened. Old Jonah come up and said, it's
me, it's me. He said, y'all got this trouble
for me. I was supposed to go to Nineveh and I didn't go. They said, well, throw me overboard.
And they threw him overboard. And just as quick as they threw
him overboard, this is Silas Jones, threw him overboard. And
through his being thrown overboard, just like that. And the scripture
said, he went down, down, and a big old whale swallowed him
up, and he come up. And this is what he learned.
Salvations of the Lord. He said, I know one thing I know.
Well, he said, he said, salvation is of the Lord. And that what
it was, and that shows that Christ was thrown overboard. Christ
was our substitute. Christ took our place. All the
storm of God's wrath and storm of God's judgment and all the
condemnation that we were under and the curse was gone. Christ
was thrown for us and crucified for us and put in our place. Then when he came down and he'd
come up, that whale took Jonah and took him up and spit him
out on dry land, and that's the way it was for us. We found out
when we seen Christ that SALVATION is of the LORD, and just as Jonah
was spit out on that dry land, Christ came back from the grave. Christ was risen again from the
dead. and Christ was made EVERYTHING
to us. I m not looking for a sign. I
m not looking for any wonder works. I m not looking for any
kind of miracles. The very fact that we have a
gospel that God uses to save men and women from their sin,
that s enough for me! That s enough for me! And that s why they said they
had a sign there. And oh, my! We ve seen strange
things, I tell you. Oh, And I tell you, he went and
spoke according to the Word of the Lord, the Word of the Lord.
And I tell you something else he was, he was a man of self-denial.
Look what happened down here in verse 6, And the king said unto the man,
Entreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me." Now
you see he said, The LORD thy God, not my God, not my Lord. He didn't have a God, he didn't
have a Lord. He was a sorry, you know what they call the sin
of Jeroboam. He didn't have a God, he didn't
have a Master, he didn't have a Lord, he didn't have a Savior.
And the king answered, said unto the man of God, Entreat now the
face of the LORD thy God, pray for me. that my hand may be restored
me again, and the man of God besought the Lord. Oh, my praying
man, he prayed, and the king's hand was restored to him again,
and it became as it was before. Come right back, because that
man prayed, that man prayed. And then he was a man of Seth
Denial. Look what the king said to him. And the king said unto the man
of God in verse 7, Come home with me, and refresh thyself,
and I'll give you a reward. I'm going to give you, I'm going
to pay you for what, I'm going to make it worth your while.
I'm going to make it worth your while. And the man of God said
unto the king, If you gave me half your house, I'll not go
in with thee, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water with thee
in this place. For it was charged me by the
word of the Lord, saying, eat no bread, nor drink no water,
nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. Oh my, he restored
the king's head, and because he had the power, and he had
prayed, and the king asked him to come. I'm going to pay you
off, I'm going to pay you good." But he wouldn't. He wouldn't.
He wouldn't do it. You know, Paul, when he was getting
ready to leave the Ephesian church and go up to Jerusalem himself
where he'd be taken a prisoner, he said, you know, he said, I
want to tell every one of you all, he said, I never ever sought
any of your silver. I never sought any of your gold.
I never sought any clothes. I never sought any garment. I
never thought, I never sought anything that you ever had. Didn't
care anything about it. Nothing. I never sought any of
it. But you know what I did? Said
I went from house to house teaching and preaching the gospel. That's
what I did. And I tell you, that's what,
and I, you know, he said, come and refresh yourself. He was
no hireling. He was no hireling. You know,
the scripture said a hireling will flee, flee when he sees
the wolf coming. And he was a man who denied himself. He took up his cross and he followed
his master. And I tell you what, he, I didn't
want anything he got. You know, there's two men in
the Bible. Let me give you an illustration
if I can. It's illustrated with the Bible. Abraham went out with
318 men to get Lot back and fought five kings, five kings with 318
men. And he got Lot back and he got
everything that belonged to Lot and brought it back. And the
king of Sodom was helping him. And the king of Sodom said, He
said, you know, to Abraham, he said, you know, I'll give you
so much of this booty, all this spoils that we got. And Abraham,
you know, he lifted his hand, he said, I so much as not take
a shoelace from you, lest you say you've made Abraham rich.
You take everything that was got from somebody else but Lot. I only want what belonged to
Lot. That's all I want, what they took from him. And he said,
old Sodom said, I'll give you all this money. I'll split it
with you. I wouldn't take a shoelace from you unless you said you'd
make me rich. And then Elijah. Oh my. A man came to him one
time, come up and pulled up, old name, and pulled up with
all kinds of clothes, oh, five, six suits of clothes. Nice suits
with nice ties and shirts to match them. Pair of shoes for
every pair, every suit he had. Oh, he come up there, and then
he had a sack of silver over here and a sack of gold over
there. Pulled up and said, oh, he gonna come out here, I'm gonna
pay him good. Elijah didn't even get up off
the couch. That would impress most people.
But oh, Elijah didn't even get up off the couch. He told his
servant, go out there and see what that man wants. Oh, I tell you what, that's the
way preachers are. They just can't help it. But
oh, let me tell you something else that happened to this poor
man. HE FELL THROUGH A LIE, HE FELL THROUGH A FALSE PROFESSOR,
OH MY! AND SO HE WENT, HE SAID IN VERSE
9, HE SAID, FOR IT IS CHARGED BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, SAID
EAT NO BREAD, DRINK NO WATER, AND RETURN AGAIN BY THE SAME
WAY THAT YOU CAME. SO HE WENT ANOTHER WAY AND RETURNED
NOT BY THE WAY THAT HE CAME TO BETHEL. HE WENT BACK, GOD SAID
YOU GO BACK A DIFFERENT WAY THAN YOU CAME. And there dwelt an
old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the
works that the man of God done in Bethel, the words which he
hath spoken unto the king than they told their father. And their
father said, Which way did he go? He said, He went that a way. They got his ass out, saddled
it up, and he took all after him, found him sitting under
an oak tree, just found him sitting under an oak tree. And he said,
oh my, come home with me and eat some food. He knowed he was
hungry, knowed he was thirsty. And he said, I may not return
with thee nor go with thee, neither shall I eat bread or drink water
with thee. Now watch what happens now. For it's said to me by the
word of the Lord, thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water
or go therein by the way that thou camest. He said, I am a
prophet. I'm a prophet too. I'm a prophet,
I'm a preacher. just like you. And an angel spake
unto me. Now, see, there s a difference
between the word of the Lord and that word of an angel. He
came by the word of the Lord. This fellow is talking about
an angel. Spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring
him back with thee in thine house, and he may eat bread, and drink
water. But look what the next line said, But he lied unto him. But he lied unto him. He lied. Why would he lie to him? Why
would he lie to him? Because he wanted to be identified
with this man. He wanted to have some fellowship
with this fellow, but he wanted it on the basis of a lie. And oh my, this old liar pretended
that an angel spoke to him, said, bring him back. He refused, but
look what happens now. Verse 20, And it came to pass,
he went back with him to eat, and it came to pass, as they
sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet,
and that brought him back. And he cried unto the man, and
listen to what he told him now, God that came from Judah, thus
saith the LORD, forasmuch as you have disobeyed the mouth
of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD
commanded thee, but you came back, and ate bread, and drank
water in the place which the LORD did not say to thee, He
said, Oh my, your carcass shall not come to your own grave. He
said, you won't be buried at home. You won't be buried at
home. And oh my, this is, this is, at first he refused, but
he was tired and he was hungry. And Satan will use whatever means
he can possibly use. He even used, he even used Simon
Peter against our Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, he went back
after what God revealed to him, and God's Word was revealed to
him, the will of God was revealed to him, and he obeyed the invention
of this man. This man invented a lie and told
this fellow. And this tells us, Beloved, if
it's not according to the Word of God, don't believe it. Don't
believe it. That false prophet was CONSCIOUS,
I m sure he was, what he was doing to this man, and if our
heart condemns us not, we have confidence with God. And I tell
you what, these false prophets by ministering to him, LIED to
him, and I tell you it was come after the lust of the flesh.
You hungry? Yes, I am! You thirsty? I am! But oh my, this man spake not
after his own heart. You know, Jeremiah said this,
they speak a vision, a vision after their own heart, a vision
after their own heart. Cry, peace, peace, when there
is no peace. And John said, believe not every
spirit for all, try the spirits, whether they be of God or not.
Because he said, there's many false prophets going out into
the world, many antichrists out into the world. And oh my, There's
only one, I want you to look in Jeremiah, look in Jeremiah
23 with me, I want you to see this. Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, right after the,
look in Jeremiah 23, in verse 32. This is the way a lot of
people think about God's word. Oh my. There's one mark you'll know
a false prophet by how he treats the Word of God, the way he uses
lightness with the Word of God. Have little reverence for the
Word of God. Look down in verse 32. Behold, I am against them that
prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and
cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness. They said the word of God, they
treated very lightly, no reverence for the word of God. And yet
I sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not
prophesy to people of all, saith the LORD." And I tell you this
is unbelievable, I mean, well, WE KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE. MEN WOULD RATHER BELIEVE A LIE.
THEY SAID THAT PROPHETS COME WITH A LIE IN THEIR RIGHT HAND.
ISAIAH SAID THEY COME WITH A LIE IN THEIR RIGHT HAND. MEN, YOU'VE
HEARD IT SAID THIS HERE, A LIE WILL GET UP AND GO AROUND THE
BLOCK BEFORE TRUTH CAN GET OFF THE STEPS. AND THAT'S THE WAY
IT IS. And I tell you, so they have,
these people have little, little regard for the Word of God, reverence
for it. And you know our Lord said if
it was possible they would deceive the very elect, if it was possible
to deceive the very elect. And oh my, and that was the end
of his testimony for God because he believed this false preacher's
lie. And now look what else happens
now, look down in verse 30 29 and 30 with me. Well, no, we gotta go back over
here to 24, 23 and 24. Excuse me. And it came to pass,
after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, and he saddled
him to ask the prophet who brought back. And when he was gone, when
that man of God was gone, a lion met him by the way and slew him,
and his carcass was cast in the way. got in the way and his animal,
his ass stood by it while the lion also stood by that carcass. People come by and see that carcass
laying by the wayside, laying there in the street, laying there
in the road. And then look what happens now in verse 29. He is
moaned over by the one who lied to him and deceived him. And
the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God and laid upon
his ass and brought it back. And the old prophet came to the
city to mourn and to bury him, and listen to this, and he laid
his carcass, his body, that's all he had left after that lion
got through him, the carcass. He laid his carcass in his own
grave, buried him in his own grave, and mourned over him and
said, Alas, alas, my brother, oh, my brother. You know, anybody
that substitutes the Word of God in any way, but you think
this false prophet, you think he was saved man? I don't think
he was. And he'll have to face his message
in the resurrection. He'll have to face his message.
How's it gonna fare with the false teachers and preachers
when God comes back? So, oh my, I take heed how you
hear. and take heed especially who you follow and who you listen
to. Our Master, our great God and
Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, our blessed, blessed Savior.
Thank you for your abundant mercy and grace given us in Christ.
And Lord, help us to keep the word of the Lord Precious to
us. It's precious to us. It's what
you use to teach us. It's what you use to quicken
us. It's what you use to rebuke us. It's what you use to instruct
us. It's what you use to reprove
us. It's what you use to trim us
up with and prune us with is your word. Counsel us with your
word. Bring light to our understanding. Expose us to ourselves. It's
what your word does. So Lord, please make the word
of God precious to us. Make it to be our meat. Make
it to be our drink. Make it to be our bread. Make
it to be our water. Make it to be our light. Make
it to be our sustenance. And Lord, forgive me of everything
that's so unlike you and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing His word. It sounds like music in my ear. Sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. I'll see you Wednesday, God willing.