James chapter 13. Verse one, 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, that altar that he had made. And this man of God cried out
against the altar in the word of the Lord and said, O altar,
altar, thus saith the Lord, behold, a child should be born under
the house of David, Josiah by name. and he wouldn't be born
for another 360 years. He's right before Nebuchadnezzar
comes in and ransacks. Josiah by name and upon thee
shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense
upon thee and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. And Lord, how thankful and grateful
we are for his name, that name that makes us accepted, loved,
righteous in your sight. Lord, how we thank you for the
free forgiveness of sins. How we thank you for the salvation
that's in your son. Lord, we pray for your blessing
on Tom's loved ones, that you would give them grace to look
to you. We especially pray for Donna.
Lord, we are so grateful. We're so grateful. Accept our
thanksgiving through thy son, and Lord, cause your gospel to
be preached. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now let's look
back in verse 25 of chapter 12. I think that's important. Verse
25 of chapter 12. This is why this man of God came. Then Jeroboam built Shechem and
Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein, and went out from thence and
built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart,
now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. Even after
God had promised him that the kingdom would be his, He doesn't
believe God. He says, now shall the kingdom
return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice
in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this
people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam, king
of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again. And again to
Rehoboam, that was Solomon's son, king of Judah. Whereupon
the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. and said
unto them, the Israelites, it's too much for you to go up to
Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other
put in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to
worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house
of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people,
which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a
feast in the eighth day on the 15th day of the month, like unto
the feast that's in Judah. This was a Passover that looked
just like the one in Judah. It was on a different day and
a different place, but it looked like the one in Judah. And he
offered upon the altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto
the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests
of the high places, which he had made. So he offered upon
the altar which he had made in Bethel the 15th day of the eighth
month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart,
and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel. And he offered
incense upon the altar, and he burnt incense. Now there we have
man-made religion. It's the religion that he devised,
the scripture says, in his own heart. And in reading that passage
of scripture, we see what was behind it. unbelief. He failed to believe
what God told him in 1 Kings 11, how he'd make him a house
of David if he would obey his commandments. He wouldn't do
it. The second thing that we see
in man-made religion is the fear of man. He said, they're going
to kill me. I'm going to have to change this because they're
going to kill me. He was controlled by the fear
of man. And thirdly, I see in man-made religion, the desire
to control. He wanted to control these people. He didn't want them going to
Jerusalem to observe the Passover. He wanted him to go into the
place that he made. He wanted to control these people
to keep them under wraps. I see that so clearly in human
religion. But look at verse 32 again. And Jeroboam ordained to feast
in the eighth month on the 15th day of the month like under the
feast that's in Judah. It looked just like it. Now, what is a $20 bill that
looks like a real $20 bill? It's a counterfeit. It's a counterfeit. And that's what this Passover
is. It's a counterfeit. It looked just like the Passover
at Jerusalem, but it was a counterfeit. Now, how much value is a counterfeit
$20 bill? It's of no value at all. It has
no purchasing power. It can do nothing. What about
the one who's passing it out? He's a criminal. He's to be put
in jail. Now, a counterfeit gospel has
no saving value at all, and the person who promotes a counterfeit
gospel is a criminal before God. Now that's just the truth. And
that's what Jeroboam was. He was passing out a counterfeit
gospel. Now, there is one God. I want to say, before we get
into the text, there's several things I want to say. I want
you to think about this. There's one God. Anything like him is
what? An idol. There is one Christ. Anything
like him is antichrist. There's one spirit. Anything
like him is another spirit. Now, before I go on, I want you
to turn to Exodus chapter 20, the commandment against idolatry. Verse four, thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that's
in heaven above, or that's in the earth beneath, or that's
in the water under the earth, no likenesses. Thou shalt not
bow down thyself to them nor serve them for I, the Lord thy
God, am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me. Now, when somebody makes a likeness
of God, you know why? Because they hate God as he is. And they're going to make a God
like him that they feel more comfortable with. There's one
gospel. Anything like it is another gospel. There's one righteousness. the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And any righteousness
that's like that is unrighteousness. We could go on and on with this
thing of a likeness. Um, there's one thing God was
looking for on the night of the Passover. What was that? The
blood, anything like the blood won't do you any good. There
was one high priest. Someone who was like the high
priest was a false high priest. We could go on and on with this,
but there's one gospel. There's one gospel. Anything
like it, anything that looks like it is another gospel. There's only one, just like there's
one God. Anyone who looks like him is
not the God of the Bible. Now that is the, we see here,
the sin of Jeroboam. He brought in a Passover. that
looked like the real Passover, but it wasn't. And as you go
on reading through the rest of the Kings, at least 17 times,
we read over the centuries of the sin of Jeroboam. This was
the sin by which other sins were measured. This is the measuring
stick. This is what brought on the wrath of God, the sin of
Jeroboam in making a Passover like unto the Passover. Verse one of chapter 13. And
behold, there came a man of God. Now there is such a thing as
a man of God. There is such a thing. Now, I
have to say this first. I despise the idea of clergy
and laity. I despise that. I think that
that is what the doctrine of the Nicolaitans is. because it
means above the people. Like there's God's clergy and
then there's lay people. All of God's people are God's
clergy. All of God's people are God's
inheritance. Every single one of them. And
the idea of a clergy laity, it's just wrong. And Christ hates
it. That's why he says the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. I know that's what it
is, the paid priesthood, the above the people. So I want to
express before I say what I'm going to say that this is not
clergy laity, but there is such a thing as a man of God. God sent. There was a man sent
of God named John. And anyone who truly preaches
the gospel is a man of God. And that's his credential, a
man of God. He's a man. Well, there's a lot
you can say about that, isn't there? He's a weak man. He's a sinful man. You could
find all kinds of problems with him. He's a man. You know, if
you want to look for reasons to criticize anybody, you can
find them, can't you? You can find them. He's a man.
We don't want to forget that, but he's a man of God, a man
sent of God to preach God's gospel. Now, look in verse one. And behold,
there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord
unto Bethel, this place where Jeroboam was. And Jeroboam stood
by the altar to burn incense. Now, not only did he set up a
priesthood, all of a sudden he starts thinking he can play the
part of a priest. And he starts burning incense
up by this altar that he'd made. No doubt, this altar looked like
the altar in Jerusalem. He was a real good copy. He made
it according to the specifications of the altar in Jerusalem. But
what he was bypassing, when he was saying you can go to Bethel
or Dan to eat the Passover, he was taking away from the one
place that God accepts Christ. You look to Jerusalem, you look
to Christ. That's the only place God accepts. He bypasses all that. And he
has these likenesses. He stood there at the altar and
he was burning incense at that altar, taking the place of a
priest. And this man of God, we're never given his name. 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 upon thee,
this altar, shall he offer the priests of the high places that
burn incense upon thee." Those priests Those false priests are
going to be put on this very altar and their bones are going
to be burned that offer this incense unto thee. And do you
know that happened? 360 years later, you can read
about it in 2 Kings chapter 22 and 23 during the reign of Josiah,
when Josiah did this. 360 years before it took place,
he gives this prophecy. Now, one of the things that I
think about is God's timetable isn't like ours, is it? 360 years ago would have been sometime
in the 1600s. I forgot what year I came up
with. You can subtract 360 from now,
but that's talking about something that happened in the 1600s. And
then it happens today. Now, God's timing is not like
ours, but his time is perfect, isn't it? He doeth all things
well. This is not going to happen to
Jeroboam. It's going to happen during Josiah's reign, 360 years later. Now I want us to notice that
he cried against the altar. Oh, altar, altar. He cried against
the altar. And here's the point. You can't
preach the truth. without preaching against the
false. Now that's so important. You cannot preach the true without
preaching against the false. Now, a lot of preachers fail
here. They'll say something that's
true, but they won't expose the error of that which is contrary
to it. except the truth, they'll even
preach the truth, but they won't say that that which is contrary
to it is not gospel and not truth. They don't preach against the
altar. Someone says, here's an example. Someone says, I believe
that salvation is by grace. I believe God elected a people
before time began. I believe Christ died for the
elect. I believe God's grace is saving, that he preserves
his people. I believe that. I believe that. But if that person,
looks at this other preacher who's preaching something different,
preaching that salvation is up to the sinner, that yes, God's
salvation's by grace, yes, it's through the blood of Christ,
but it's up to you to do something to make it work. And if that
man who says he believes grace doesn't say, that man's not preaching
the gospel. He's denying the gospel he preaches.
He's not saying it is the only gospel. Now that's the point. He cried out against the altar. And he said, this very altar
that you're offering up sacrifices on is going to be used to burn
the bones of the priests who use it. And if you look at, we
looked at this yesterday in the preacher's class in Josiah, how
he, what all he did to rid Jerusalem of these idols. It's, as the
Lord gives you, Opportunity, read 2 Kings 22 and 23, and 2
Chronicles 33 and 34, where you get the history of Josiah. 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 upon thee shall he offer 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 has spoken, behold,
the altar shall be rent and the ashes that are upon it shall
be poured out. This is what's gonna happen.
This is gonna prove that this is gonna take place. Verse four,
and it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of
the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel,
that he put forth his hand from the altar saying, lay hold on
him. He was gonna put this man out of business. You see, this
man was trying to mess up what he was doing. And he was gonna
put him out of business. He said, lay hold on him. Now
that wasn't just grab him. That means kill him. Let's put
this man out of business. And look what happened. And his
hand, which he put forth against him, dried up so that he couldn't
pull it again to him. Now, a miracle takes place. He
puts forth his hand, and all of a sudden, it just withers
up, and there's not a thing he can do. You know, persecution
never works against the gospel, against the church. It never
works. Men try it, and it just doesn't
work. I love that passage of scripture
in Exodus about the Hebrew children, the more they
were vexed, the more they multiplied. And that's the way persecution
works. And his hand just dries up. He couldn't move it. I bet he
was scared now. And look what happened. That
sign that the prophet said took place, the altar also was rent. The ashes poured out from the
altar according to the sign, which the man of God had given
by the word of the Lord. Verse six, 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 might be restored to
me again. Now, before we go on, why didn't he pray to those golden
calves he made? Why did he do that? He knew he
was a phony. He knew that. He knew that there
were inventions of him And deep down, he knew they couldn't do
anything for anybody, so he prays to the man of God, that he would
pray to his God that his hand might be restored. Now, if I
was the man of God, I probably would have said, no. No, let your hand, no. But pray for those, the Lord
said, who abuse you. and despitefully use you. That's
what the Lord said. And that's exactly what this
man does. He prays for this man who was attempting to kill him.
And he saw the Lord deliver him by the hand being withered up.
And he prays for this man. And the man of God besought the
Lord and the king's hand was restored to him again and became
as it was before. Now, when Jeroboam sees that
persecution doesn't work, he takes the next step. And the
king said unto the man of God, come home with me and refresh
thyself and I'll give thee a reward. I'm gonna enrich you. I'm gonna
make it to where it's good for you. And I couldn't help but
think of Balaam coming to Balaam. If you do this, I'll give you
great reward. You're going to really benefit
from this. But look what the man of God says. And the man
of God said unto the king, if thou will give me half thine
house, I'll not go in with thee, Neither will I eat bread nor
drink water in this place. I'm not gonna do it. For so 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 the Lord said, don't take anything from this man.
Don't eat bread in this place. Don't drink water in this place.
You see this place represented idolatry. And you're not going
to take anything from them. And I couldn't help but think
of Abraham when the king of Sodom said, offered to give him for
delivering the people in Genesis chapter 14 when he went after
Lot and the rest of the people and brought them back. And the
king of Sodom offered to give him a bunch of money for what
he did. He said, I wouldn't take a shoelace from you lest you
say, I've made Abraham rich. I'm not gonna do it. I think
of Elisha. When Naaman offered him all those
riches, he said, I don't want it. I don't want it. You see,
my portion is the Lord. That is the way every true believer
feels. My portion is the Lord. I don't
need that which comes from his enemies. My portion is the Lord. I think of Daniel. When Nebuchadnezzar
offered him great riches, he said, keep it for yourself. Keep
it for yourself. Give it to somebody else. I don't
need it. And I love this attitude of a true man of God. He's not
looking for help from the world. He's not looking for money from
the world. He's not a, he's not a, what
do you call it? Hireling. He's not a hireling.
He said, take it. I don't want it. This man lived
by faith and I'm sure that many people were upset by this man
and his message because he was saying in his message, your religion,
your altar, your Passover is nothing but a counterfeit. And
there's no truth to it whatsoever. And I'm sure people were upset
by this, but he still came with this message and he would not
be persuaded by Jeroboam. Now go on reading. the rest of
this chapter this week, and you're going to see that this true prophet
ends up a disobedient prophet. It's almost kind of an off the
wall story. It's where he goes ahead and sits under an oak tree
and an old prophet comes and he tells him that the Lord spoke
by an angel to him. And he said, you could eat and
drink in this place, this place. He hadn't got back home to Judah
yet. He was staying in this place where idolatry abounded. It wasn't
the place where God's acceptance is. He went ahead and so he believed
the prophet and he ate bread and drank water in that place
sitting under the oak tree when he wasn't home yet. And a lion
came and slew him. And we're going to consider that
next week. But any man is a man. This man of God proved himself
to be just a man, didn't he? He disobeyed God. God said, don't
eat or drink in this place. This is the place of idolatry.
This is not the place of salvation. And he went ahead and did it
anyway. And God sent a lion and the lion
slew him. Well, we'll look at that next
week.