Again I would remind us in two
weeks we will have our fifth Sunday lunch and that means there
will not be a service in the evening two weeks from today.
Now if you will let's open our Bibles please to 1st Kings chapter
13. 1st Kings chapter 13 and verse 1. 1 Kings 13 verse 1, 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. This is part of the all scripture
which is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect,
that is mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And I ask tonight, may the Lord
be pleased to make this portion that we look at profitable to
all of us. There are two men in this verse
of scripture, a man of God, a prophet, and a king. The king is named
Jeroboam. The prophet is not named, and
we do not know his name. We cannot find his name by searching
in the scripture, but he is identified as a man of God. So I want us to look at some
things which are recorded at both of these men and the lessons
that I have for us this evening. First we will look at the King,
Jeroboam. Three things about King Jeroboam. Remember this was a Jeroboam
who was the first king of Israel. after the nation was divided. Three things I want to point
out to us about this man. First of all, Jeroboam was placed
on the throne by God. That's the first thing I want
to emphasize tonight. He didn't just accidentally come
to the throne. This man was placed on the throne
by God. I want you to look back into
chapter 11, 1st Kings chapter 11, and we'll read here, beginning
in verse 26, 1st Kings chapter 11 and verse 26. And Jeroboam,
there he is, Jeroboam, the son of Naboth, an Ephrathite of Zerudah,
Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman,
even he lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the cause
that he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built Milo
and repaired the breaches of the city of David, his father.
And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. And Solomon, seeing
the young man, that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the
charge of the house of Joseph. And it came to pass at that time,
when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah, the
Shalomite, found him in the way, and he had clad himself with
a new garment. And they, too, were alone in
the field. Now here's Jeroboam. He's a mighty
man of valor. He's one of Solomon's servants.
And he walks out one day. He's got on a new robe. He's got on a new garment. And
here comes this other prophet by the name of Ahijah. And he
said that Ahijah caught the new garment. Here's this prophet,
just grabs this man's garment and tears it into 12 pieces. That's kind of strange, isn't
it? If you're out on a new suit of clothes and you walked out
and a man of God came along and he just grabbed ahold of it and
tore it to pieces. No, he didn't tear it to pieces,
he tore it into 12 pieces. And notice, and he said to Jeroboam,
take the 10 pieces. For thus saith the Lord, the
God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand
of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee." I'm pointing
out to us that this Jeroboam was placed on the throne by God. This prophet took his garment
and tore it into twelve pieces and handed him ten pieces and
told him the message of God was God was going to give him ten
tribes and reserve two tribes to the house of David. Notice
further on in this verse. And he said to Jeroboam, Take
thee ten pieces, for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel,
Behold, I, this is God speaking, I will rend the kingdom out of
the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee. Then
down to verse 35. But I will take the kingdom out
of his son's hand, that is out of Solomon's son's hand, and
will give it unto thee. Jeroboam, this is God speaking.
I'm going to take ten tribes out of the hand of Solomon's
son, and I'm going to give them unto thee. Look further down
in verse 37. And I will take thee, and thou
shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt
be king over Israel. Now this reminds us that God
reigns in heaven. And God reigns in setting up
rulers in this world. Now the scripture says, for promotion,
promotion to a high office, promotion to be a king, or in our case,
promotion to be a president, or a senator, or someone in authority. For promotion cometh neither
from the east Nor from the west, nor from the south, but God is
the judge. He putteth down one, and setteth
up another." God placed this man Jeroboam on the throne. Now several things would take
place before he came to the throne. Before he would become the king
of Israel, several things had to take place. The first thing
is, he had to run for his life. Look in verse 40 of chapter 11.
He had to run for his life because Solomon was going to kill him. And so Solomon sought therefore
to kill Jeroboam, and Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt unto
Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt unto the death of Solomon. And that's the first thing that
would take place. Not by accident, but remember,
God rules in this world. That God's providence accomplishes
His sovereign purpose before the foundation of the world. And so Jeroboam, you're going
to reign over ten tribes, but before you come to the throne,
You're going to have to escape for your life. You're going to
have to leave Israel and run into Egypt, because Solomon the
King is coming after you. Another thing that had to happen
was Solomon had to die. And of course, he did. And then
his son, by the name of Rehoboam, if you look in chapter 12 and
verse 15, this man had to take some bad
advice. Now, young people, listen to
me. It might not hurt when you make
decisions to ask some people who've been around the block
a few times. Their experience might be a blessing
to you. This man, Rehoboam, he becomes
king and the people of Israel came to him and they said, the
bondage that your father Solomon placed on us was heavy. The taxation. Give us some relief. And so he
said, well go away and I'll come back in three days and I'll give
you my answer. And first he consulted with men,
older men, in age who had been counselors even to Solomon, and
they advised him, speak, speak kindly to these people and they
will serve you. But then he sought the advice
of some younger people, people who had been raised with him.
And they told him, you tell those people who's boss. Not in those
words, but that's what he was saying. He said, Solomon, my
father, if you think he's been hard, you wait. You wait to my
rule. And so what happened? Well, the
ten tribes said, well, we have no part in David. And so they
just left him. And this was of the Lord. Notice that in 1 Kings chapter
12 and verse 15. Wherefore the king hearkened
not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord, that
he might perform his saying, which the Lord spake by Ahijah
the Silanite unto Jeroboam the son of Naboth. He did not take
the counsel of the older men, but he took the counsel of the
younger men. And when he did, it cost him
the largest part of his kingdom. But the point I'm making is Jeroboam
was put on the throne by God. Taking that bad advice was of
the Lord. You know, all the Lord has to
do is just leave us alone. That's it. Just leave us alone
and we will make some horrible decisions. That's all. He doesn't have to make us make
the bad decisions. Just leave us to our own counsel,
to our own selves. And we'll take care of making
the bad decisions. And that's what happened. It
was of the Lord. The second thing about this is
that Jeroboam did not believe God. Now you would think, you
would think that a man who had this prophet of God, Elijah,
speak to him and give him that sign, that miracle, by tearing
his garment and giving him ten pieces and telling him what was
going to take place, you would think this man would believe
God. He would trust God. God put me on the throne. God
placed me here. I don't have to worry about men,
what they may say. God put me on this throne. But
he didn't believe God. He didn't trust God. Look with
me in 1 Kings chapter 12, beginning in verse 26. And Jeroboam said
in his heart, now he's the king now, he's on the throne, he's
reigning over the ten tribes of Israel. And Rehoboam was left
with just two tribes reigning from Jerusalem. But no, Jeroboam
said in his heart, now, now, God had put him on the throne.
He didn't just get there by accident. Wouldn't he trust God? Wouldn't
he rely on God to keep him on the throne? Now, he said in his
heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David.
If this people, now watch, if this people go up to sacrifice
in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem as the law taught them to do
three times a year, remember every male in Israel was to go
to Jerusalem to observe the feast. He thought in his heart, if these
people go to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,
then shall the heart of the people turn again to their Lord. He
was their Lord. He was their king. God had put
him on the throne. But Noah begins to reason in
his heart. And he reasons, well, if they
go back, they're going to return to that other king, the king
of Judah, to Rehoboam. the king of Judah and they shall
kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah whereupon the king
took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them I
speak unto his subjects the Israelites it's too much for you to go up
to Jerusalem behold thy gods oh Israel look at these little
gods here I made for you gold golden calves, 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 he and 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 month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the
feast that is 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 priest of the high places which he had
made. So he offered upon the altar
which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month,
even of the month which he had devised of his own heart, and
ordained a feast unto the children of Israel. And he offered upon
the altar and burnt incense. Do you notice that King Jeroboam
set up these two calves and told Israel, Behold your gods, and
then he established a feast in another month and told the people,
It's too much trouble for you to go all the way to Jerusalem.
We'll just have our own feast here. We'll devise our own way
of worshiping God. And he ordained of the lowest
of the people priests, and then notice that he himself, Jeroboam
burned incense. Now this begs a question. Why,
when this king, when he burned this incense, why was it that
he did not suffer immediately God's hand of justice? Why was it? And I ask this question,
I say this because we know that another king did this very same
thing and God judged him immediately. Let's look at that. Keep your
place here, but turn over to 2 Chronicles 26. 2 Chronicles chapter 26. First of all, let's see the name
of this king and what kind of a king he was. In 2 Chronicles
chapter 26, verses 3 and 4, Sixteen years old was Uzziah,
that's his name, Uzziah, when he began to reign and he reigned
fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah
of Jerusalem. Now notice, and he did that which
was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his
father Amaziah did. This man came to the throne at
an early age, 16 years. He had a long reign. David only
reigned 40 years. Solomon only reigned 40 years.
This man reigned 52 years. And the scripture here says he
did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. But that's
not the end of the story, is it? Look on down in that chapter
to verse 16. But, when he, that is Uzziah,
when he was strong. The Apostle Paul said, when I
am weak, then I am strong. And the opposite of that is true. When we think and we feel ourselves
to be strong in ourselves, apart from His Spirit, His grace, that's
when we are weak. And this man, though he was a
good king, if you consider all of his life, when he was strong,
his heart was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed
against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord
to burn incense upon the altar of incense." Now that's what
we read that Jeroboam did, right? He's burning incense upon the
altar. This king, he goes in to burn
incense, this good king, and the priest, as arrived, the priest
went in after him and with him four score priests of the Lord
that were valiant men, and they withstood Uzziah the king and
said unto him, you have no right to do this. This doesn't pertain
to you. This is the work that God has
ordained for the sons of Levi the tribe, or the family of Aaron. What are you doing in here? You
have no right to come in here and burn incense. But you see,
this man was full of pride and no one was going to tell him
what to do. I'm king. I'm king. Who do these priests think they
are? telling me that I do not have the right to burn incense. It pertaineth not unto thee,
Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests,
the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the
sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine
honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth and had
a censure in his hand to burn incense, and while he was wroth
with the priest, the leprosy. The leprosy even rose up in his
forehead before the priest in the house of the Lord from beside
the incense altar. And as arrived the chief priest,
and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous
in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence, yea, he
ran out. himself hasted also to go out
because the Lord had smitten him. What about this King Jeroboam? He's offering incense and God
did not strike him with leprosy. The difference, of course, is
Uzziah would burn incense at the altar in the Lord's house.
the altar that God had ordained. Jeroboam, he would burn incense
on the altar that he had made. And he inserted himself into
the office of the priest and he had already ordained men to
be priests who were not allowed to be priests. But why? Because he did not believe God. And the third thing I want to
point out to us about this man, follow with me now, he was placed
on the throne by God. Number two, he did not believe
God. He did not trust God. He was
afraid that his people would desert him and go back to the
nation of Judah, even though God had placed him on the throne.
And number three, Jeroboam knew that he was a deceiver. He knew
that. You say, how do you know that,
Preacher? Well, look at his words. We read them just a moment ago
in chapter 12 and verse 28. When he spoke to the people,
he made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much
for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods. But I want you to notice what
he did when this prophet, this man of God, came and prophesied
against the altar. And he was rough. I mean, you
touch a man's God, you're going to make an enemy. You're going
to make somebody mad. And that's what this prophet
did. We look in chapter 13 and verse
6. The king answered and said unto
the man of God, because you see, the king, he was wroth, and his
hand was stretched out against this prophet, and it just withered
up. It just withered up. He had no
power to bring it to himself. The altar at which he was burning
incense, it was rent, and the ashes were poured out. But notice in verse 6, And the
king answered and said unto the man of God, Here he is, he's
got a hand that's helpless, lifeless, who's he going to call on? He's already made him two gods.
Is he going to pray to them? Not on your life. He knew. He knew he was a deceiver. And
so when he needed help, he didn't go to those gods of gold, those
calves. He entreated the man of God,
entreat now the face of the Lord thy God and pray for me. Who
does he want this prophet to pray to for him? Not those golden
calves, but to the God of heaven and earth. He knew if his hand
was ever to be healed, if it was ever to be restored, it would
take a work of the one who is the true and the living God. The Lord God, Jehovah. He didn't pray. He didn't go
and pray to those gods he had made, because he knew that there
is only one true and living God. Now, that's true of all men. Most men that claim to be atheists,
they're just trying to get you to believe what they can't believe. They know, they know in their
heart, all men know in their heart that there is a God. And there's only room for one
God in this universe. And He is the Living God and
He is, thank God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what should we take away
from these three things that are pointed out to us about Jeroboam? Well, number one, we should trust
in our Father's wise disposal of the affairs in this world,
His world. God put this man on the throne.
And I know we can get all excited and all worked up in our day
over who's going to be this and who's going to be that. But I
tell you, the man that God puts on the throne is the man that's
going to be on the throne. I read this comment by John Newton
the other day. Someone had asked him a question
about rulers and things of that nature, and he said this, he
said, I consider all second causes and instruments as mere saws
and hammers in the divine workman's hands. They can neither give
us pleasure nor pain, but as the Lord our Savior is pleased
to employ them. They can neither give us pleasure
nor pain, but as our Lord and Savior is pleased to employ them. And remember this, John Newton,
when he lived in the 1700s, the king under whom he lived, King
George, who reigned in England, from what I've read, was not
the best ruler in this world, but I thought of things that
took place during his reign. Number one, Handel wrote that
hymn that has been such a blessing to God's children over the years,
Messiah, with a wicked or crazy man on the throne. Number two,
George Whitefield, who I believe may have been one of the greatest
evangelists this world has ever known, preached on both continents
with tremendous anointing power of God. And number three, the
United States of America, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights,
all came to pass when that man was upon the throne. God takes
care of his world, doesn't he? Promotion doesn't come from the
east or the west or the north or the south. But it does come
from the Lord. Number two, we should recognize
that God had one altar and one priesthood in that dispensation,
which was typical, of course, of His one true altar and one
true priest. The Lord Jesus Christ, who offered
that one sacrifice. Have you ever noticed how many
times we see one? O-N-E. Aren't you glad? One. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One thing is needful. So how
many times do we see that? Is it emphasized to us over and
over, so that we cannot err, so that we dare not make a mistake. There's one way. And only one
way to the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And number three, we should be
aware of the sin of unbelief. Jeroboam's sin of unbelief was
like that railroad train. You know that engine, it pulls
all those cars that are behind it. And I tell you, the sin of
unbelief is like that engine. And when it comes in, it brings
a whole lot with it. A whole lot. If we just do not
believe God. God put him on the throne, but
he didn't believe God. And so he got in a lot of trouble.
Now let's take just a few minutes. Three things about the man of
God. Kings chapter 13. The first thing
I would point out is that the man of God believed God and he
obeyed in the face of danger. Verse 2 says, And he cried, that
is the man of God, cried against the altar by the word of the
Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, behold,
A child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name,
and upon thee shall he offer the priest of the high places
that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt
upon thee. I said this man of God, he believed
God and he obeyed God in the face of danger. Now don't just
skip over this. For this man to stand up before
this king and to cry out against his altar and his gods, he was
living on thin ice, as we would say. As far as humanly speaking,
this man, this king, he had power. He wasn't some person that just
got like a figurehead. I mean, this man, he could give
a command and this prophet would be dead. He had that power. This man believed God and he
obeyed in the face of danger. Have you ever noticed in Hebrews
chapter 11, when it speaks about all of the various men and women
who by faith, by faith, that's what the whole chapter is about,
isn't it? But each and every one of them
by faith did something. They did something. They believed
God and they did something. The scripture says, by faith
Abel, what did he do? He offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain. By faith Noah, what did he do? He built an ark to the saving
of his household. By faith Abraham, what did he
do? He left his country and went
out into a land that God would give him. He obeyed. And this man here, He believed
God and he obeyed. And the second thing about this
man of God, he believed God and he obeyed when he was tempted
with a reward. If you notice in verse 7, the
king said unto the man of God, come on with me and refresh thyself
and I will give thee a reward. The man of God said unto the
king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in
with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this
place. For so was it 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. He was tempted, no doubt, with
the offer of reward, but he obeyed God. The king said, I'll reward
you. I'll make you somebody. I'll
fill your house with gold or silver, whatever. No. God told me not to eat any bread,
drink any water in this place, and not even to go home the same
way I came. But here's the third thing. The
man of God believed. Now listen. He believed an old
prophet and was killed. He believed an old prophet, and he was killed. He disobeyed
God. Look in verse 11. Now there dwelt
an old prophet in Bethel. I tell you, there's nothing better
than an old prophet if he is a faithful prophet. But there's
nothing worse than an old prophet if he is not a faithful man of
God. Here he was, 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. The words which he
had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. And their father said unto them,
What way went he? For his sons had seen what way
the man of God went, which came from Judah. And he said unto
his sons, Saddle me the donkey. So they saddled him the donkey
and 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 told me by the word of the Lord, thou shalt eat no bread,
nor drink water there, nor burn, nor turn again to go by the way
that thou camest. He said unto him, I am a prophet
also, as thou art. And an angel spake unto me by
the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into
thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he
lied unto him. So he went back with him, and
he did eat bread in his house and drank water. And it came
to pass, as they said at the table, that the word of the Lord
came unto the old prophet that brought him back. And he cried
unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith
the Lord, forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord,
and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded
thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in
the place Of the witch the Lord did say to thee, eat no bread
and drink no water, thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre
of thy fathers. And it came to pass that after
he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled
for him the donkey to whet for the prophet whom he had brought
back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way and killed
him. and his carcass was cast in the
way, and the donkey stood by, the lion also stood by the carcass. This man of God, he obeyed God
when he prophesied in the face of danger, he obeyed God when
the king wanted to reward him, but he disobeyed God when this
old prophet lied to him. Now, the man claimed to be a
prophet of God, but one thing that stands out to me as I read
the verses we just read, that old prophet said that he got
his message from an angel of the Lord. Did you notice that?
Look at that in verse 18. He said unto him, I am a prophet
also of thy heart, and an angel spake unto me by the word of
the Lord. Now the prophet who was killed,
he didn't get his message through an angel. He said he got his
message from God. That's the difference I see there.
But what should we take away from these things about the man
of God? Well first of all, faith without
works is dead. This man believed God and he
obeyed God. Number two, Christ is our reward. When tempted By this world to
reward us, we can bypass whatever it might give us because Christ
is our reward. And number three, though an angel
from heaven, Paul said, preach any other gospel than that which
we have in the word of God, let him be accursed. Let him be accursed. So, we thank God tonight for
the message, the gospel we have, not from an angel, but from the
Lord himself. May the Lord bless this word
to us this evening.