Praise the Lord for the Savior we've got, amen. Praise the Lord. Right. 1 Kings 13 is what we're looking at tonight. 1 Kings chapter 13. Church, I've got several more verses to read tonight than normal. I want to look at mostly the entire chapter. I normally don't do that, but the story is a chapter long. So I want you to try to really, if you can rest your attention to stay with me tonight because the thought tonight involves the whole chapter, so if you'll stay with me. 1 Kings 13, we're going to start in verse number one. Church, we could read this responsively, I hope that you'll, we will not, but I hope that you'll stay with me to get the context and I'll stop along through to kind of get the story in our mind and then we'll look at this together. Let's go ahead and ask the Lord's blessing on His Word. Heavenly Father, thank You again for letting us be in church tonight. Lord, I ask You to please again use Your Word and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our heart. May we not miss or hear from you tonight. Father, I feel like that this is a very important thought. I ask you to please help us all again not to miss it. And Lord give us wisdom that can only come from you. Thank you again for your Word. Thank you for the power of it. Father, help us tonight, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. All right, 1 Kings 13. Now, church, let me just quickly say this, most of you know what this story is talking about. This is a story about the man of God. He's not named, he's just called the man of God. And God tells him to go to Judah and prophesy against Jeroboam. Now, again, let's get the story fixed in our mind, because the previous chapter shows what Jeroboam did, all right? So, let's review real quickly here. We have the division of the kingdoms, Rehoboam takes two tribes, Jeroboam takes ten tribes. Jeroboam takes Judah, which is where Jerusalem is, and Jeroboam is going to take the ten tribes, which their capital will eventually be Samaria, and there's a division there. Now Jeroboam did not want people, the ten tribes, going back to Jerusalem because he was afraid he was going to lose the kingdom. So what did Jeroboam do? He made two golden calves one he put up in Dan the other one he put down in Bethel And he said these are your gods. Here's where you're gonna come to worship now This is what we're gonna pick up in chapter 13 God is not happy with Jeroboam now I'm gonna tell you it's a message all in itself of this newfangled type of worship And that is still going on today that started with Jeroboam And this idea that you can change things to be lookalike but not be the same. And that's where we're at in most religion today. And of course, we praise the Lord we got the real thing because we got the real book. And so, but look at 1 Kings 13, look what God says now, 1 Kings 13. It says, and behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel. And remember now, Judah is where God is blessing his people. He sends this prophet. or I should say this man of God, and he's going to go to Bethel. Bethel, it's interesting that Bethel means house of God, but it wasn't a house of God. That's where the golden calf was that Jeroboam had made for Israel. So he sends him to Bethel, and Jeroboam stood by the altar, obviously a false altar to burn incense. Verse 2, and he cried against the altar, the man of God cried against the altar in the word of the Lord. What did God tell him to say? And said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name." That's a king 300 years later that would be born in Judah. "'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.'" All right, so what is he doing? He's prophesying that down the road there's going to be a king born named Josiah. He's going to come to Bethel. He's going to dig up all the bones of these false priests that Jeroboam had set in front of the people. And he's gonna in Josiah would burn the bones by the way that happened All right Just like God said it would look at verse number three 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 All right, now Church Family, again, you have in your mind what's going on? Let's just use this side over here as being Judah, where Jerusalem would be as far as the capital. We're going to make that side over there where the ten tribes are at. So he tells this man of God, unnamed, God says, man of God, I want you to go down to Bethel. And he says down at Bethel is where those false gods are that Jeroboam has set up for the people. He says, I want you to prophesy against the altar. And he says, I want you to tell, O altar, altar. Upon this altar, a king will be born, named Josiah, and he's going to sacrifice the bones of the priest upon this." And he said, here's the sign. The sign is, your altar, you're going to be broken in half, and the ashes are going to be going everywhere. Now look what happens next. Jeroboam doesn't like what this man of God just prophesied in front of his people. In verse number 4 it says, And it came to pass, when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which 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 in again to him." Here's the sign. I drew an arrow from verse 3 down to verse 5 because it's going to take place now. 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, that's Jeroboam, 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 to me again. 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 I want to tell you this much, if I was that man of God, I don't think I'd have been praying for Jeroboam. I'd say, God let the rest of his body happen like his arm. But that's not the man of God. He prayed and God allowed Jeroboam's arm to come back like normal. Verse number 7, now look what the king does. Verse 7, And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. And 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. Now church family, look at the first phrase, Who charged the man of God not to eat bread, drink water, or turn again the same way? Our God did. Our God said, listen, this is back in Judah. He says, you're going to go down to Bethel. You're going to prophesy for me while you're down there. I don't want you to eat anything, drink anything, and I don't want you to come back the same way that you left back to Judah. And that's what God told him. Look at verse number 10. So he went another way and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. Verse 11. Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel, all right? Is Bethel in Israel or is Bethel in Judah? Which one? Bethel's in Israel. It's where Jeroboam was, the split, the division of the kingdom, all right? So here you have an old prophet here in Bethel and it says, 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 ass. So 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 to me by who? The Word of the Lord, it was said to me by the Word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. And he said unto him, now listen to the prophet now, verse 18, And 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, what? Lied unto him. Verse 19, So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet, 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 which the Lord did spy to thee, eat no bread, and drink no water, thy carcass," here's what's going to happen, thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers. And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass to wit for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him. And his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, and the lion also stood by the carcass. And, behold, men passed by and saw the carcass cast into the way, and the lion standing by the carcass. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God who is disobedient unto," what? "...word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him and slain him, according to the word of the Lord which he spake unto him. Verse 27, And he spake to his son, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass of the lion standing by the carcass. The lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass. And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back. And the old prophet came to the city to mourn and to bury him. And he laid his carcass in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his son, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. For the saying 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, shall surely come to pass." Again, this is the last part of the story, but I just want you to notice, again I'm not going to preach on this, but verse 33, the first three words in verse 33. After this thing. Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priest of the high places. Whosoever he would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. And this thing became a sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth." All right? Thank you for letting me read that chapter. Again, I don't normally do that. The reason I wanted you to notice after this thing is I think that Jeroboam would have changed if the man of God would have listened to God and did exactly what God said, because Jeroboam, like everybody else in the city, knew that that man of God was killed by a lion. All right? That's just an interesting thought. But here's the message tonight. I want to talk to you on this idea of be careful who you're listening to, all right? Are you still with me so far? Be careful who you're listening to. The man of God listened to an old prophet he shouldn't have listened into, all right? And I want to point out some things in this passage here that are very interesting to me on how this man of God got mixed up and listened to an old prophet who said, hey, we're just the same. I believe that a lot of times Christians get messed up in this area not because, excuse me, not because of a Jeroboam, but because of an old prophet. Are you with me so far? All right. Now, if we can illustrate just a little bit tonight, Simon, thanks for volunteering. Come on up here. And Brother Michael, you come up for a second here. All right. Brother Michael Price, we are gonna let you be the old prophet tonight, okay? So you come on this side here. And I need you to look like a contemporary. Yeah, you need to take your tie off, your suit jacket off. And I just want you to look like, you know, the religious crowd today. You know, you look good, but you're not. And the idea of Jeroboam, all right? Now, he's gonna picture Jeroboam tonight for just a few moments. This is gonna be the picture of the old prophet tonight, all right? Now, I know he's not that old, but we're gonna make do with what we've got, all right? Now, are you old? You're olding? You're molding, maybe, but not olding, all right? Now, just for me, what I want you to see tonight is this, all right? First, I want you to see is that God used this man of God, unnamed man of God, used him in a great way. Just for me, what man of God do we, even in our day today, to see the miracles this fellow saw? In other words, here you have, again, picture in your mind this man of God without bringing another person up here tonight, this man of God heard from God. God said, I want you to go to Bethel, and I want you to proclaim against the altar there and against Jeroboam. And think about it. He knew Jeroboam was leading Israel, the 10 tribes, the wrong direction. He knew that. What kind of prophet would you see that or to think about that he was able to come and using the organ as our altar to be able to prophesy? And as soon as he prophesied, the thing splits in half. I mean, the miracle, what prophet do you know in the scriptures that when Jeroboam stuck his hand out and says, hey, lay hold on that man, and all of a sudden, his arm dries up, that the Bible says he can't even bring it back to him again? I mean, this man of God saw some amazing things, and then he prays, and God gave him his arm back. Do you understand? This man of God saw some really great things, but you know what messed him up? He got listening to the wrong person. Now I wanna tell you something, Christians get messed up because of listening to the wrong people. All righty? Now I wanna tell you something. You'll notice in the scripture here, this man of God didn't get messed up with a Jeroboam. In fact, what did God tell the man of God? He says, I don't want you to eat, I don't want you to drink, and I don't want you to come back by the way that you came from. Now church, I mean, I don't know if you noticed it or not, but Jeroboam and the old prophet both said the same exact thing, come home with me. I'll feed you and give you something to drink." Now, church, I didn't look to find out what the distance was, but I want to tell you something. He had not eaten or drink in possibly a day, maybe two days. There was a time period that from the time he left Judah to the time he got to Bethel, he is hungry. He has taken a trip and he hasn't eaten anything. He hasn't drunk, drank anything. He is thirsty. And here he is offered by King Jeroboam, said, hey, listen, I appreciate what you did by giving my arm, my use of my arm back. Let me take you home and I'll let you refresh yourself. In fact, you kind of smell after that long journey. Let me help you get some new clothing on. Let me help you be able to get something to eat, something to drink. Now, I don't know about you, but I think he wanted that. But he knew what God told him to do, and he was going to obey God. Look at your Bible for a second. Look down at verse number 8, 1 Kings chapter 13, look at verse number 8. Church family, in answer to Jeroboam, the Bible says this in verse 8, and the man of God said unto the king, if thou wilt give me half thine house, what's the next three words? Now, church, I mean, think about it. The previous verse, what did Jeroboam say in verse number 7? And the king said unto the man of God, verse 7, come home with me and refresh thyself, and I'll give thee a reward. His response to Jeroboam was, I will not. Look what he says to the old prophet, verse number 16. Look down at verse number 16. In verse number 15, he says, the old prophet says, then he said unto him, come home with me and eat bread. Look at verse number 16. And he said, what's the next three words? I want to tell you something. He looked at Jeroboam as we would look at Jeroboam. He's lost. He doesn't know Christ as his Savior. Now, I know we're looking at Jeroboam in a New Testament eyesight. But he looks at Jeroboam. That man's lost. He's an unbeliever. He's asking me to do something that God told me I'm not supposed to do. I'm not doing that. Wait a second here. He goes from I will not to when he's talking to the prophet. Now, look what the prophet says, though. Got your Bible there still? Look at verse number 18. Verse 18, and he said unto him, the old prophet to the man of God, and he said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art. Now, church, I want to tell you something. Christians are not getting messed up with unbelievers who are trying to get them to go the wrong way, though that happens. Christians are getting messed up with people who say, I'm just like you are. Are y'all with me tonight? You'll notice that his response to Jeroboam was, I will not. His response to the old prophet was, no. I may not." Christian, isn't it amazing that his stability and conviction in his speech changed from an I will not to an I may not because of who he was talking to? I've told Christian church young people all the time as they're growing up and again following the advice of their parents as far as what the next step of life is, and I want to tell you something. I think it's more dangerous for our kids to go to a Christian college with no standards than it is for our kids to go to a public university. Now I know some people might not even agree, but I'm not asking you to agree, I'm just trying to say there's something about we keep our guard up How many of you fellows, when you were in school, you boxed at all? When they taught us boxing, the one thing about boxing was is to keep your guard up. Because you know what? Two or three minutes inside of a ring of hitting somebody and trying to fight, it just wears you out. And the longer you're in the ring, the more you have the tendency to drop your guard. Remember those kind of statements? Keep your guard up. Don't drop your guard. Those are boxing terms, because if you're boxing, you get tired and you start to lower. And what happens? You're going to get one right on the nose. Because why? You let your guard down. I want to tell you something Christians have left their spiritual guard down because of who they're listening to I'm talking to a lost person. I've got my guard up. I know what this is The Bible calls them a child of the devil and I know we're not trying to be critical of Humanity, but that's what humanity is without Christ. They're a child of the devil and When you go to family member's house over a holiday, you've got your guard up. You're careful where your kids are at and who they're with and what they're watching on a television because you know that as a lost person, they could care less to what kind of immorality comes across the screen. You know as a lost person, they could care less about the language that they use. Your guard's up. Can I just tell you that this man of God lost his life because of who he was listening to. I want to talk to you just briefly tonight about the old prophet tonight. ABC, you can take your stuff with you. Thank you so much for your help tonight. You definitely look contemporary. I need you for just a few moments, all right? Again, with him represented of the prophet, here's the thought I want you to catch tonight. Go back to verse number 18, if you don't mind. Verse 18, the Bible says this, 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. Church, I mean, when I look at the old prophet compared to Jeroboam, and church, I mean, let's face it. When the man of God came to Jeroboam, and Jeroboam says, I'll not only feed you, I'll give you a reward, he said, I will not have anything of it, because God said. Now, church, I mean, watch now. The old prophet comes along, the old prophet that's living in Bethel, the old prophet that should have not been in Bethel. And here he comes to the man of God, and he says, hey, we're the same. I want to tell you something. This guy wasn't the same. And I want to tell you why they weren't the same. Because they weren't from the same place. You say, Pastor, what do you mean? Follow me now. I'm not just trying to use logic tonight. I'm trying to use Scripture tonight. Do you understand they were not from the same place? The man of God was from Jerusalem. The man of God was from Judah. That's where God was. I know God's everywhere, but what Jeroboam was doing over here, the old prophet was not just from the ten tribes, he was from the very city that the false gods were set up at. I've got a question for you. How did the old prophet find out that a man of God had been there? Did you read it? From his sons. Why is an old prophet's sons down at the altar of false gods where Jeroboam is? These guys were not the same. I want you to look at a verse of scripture with me if you don't mind. Turn over to 2 Chronicles chapter 11. We're going to come right back, but look over 2 Chronicles chapter 11. 2 Chronicles 11, look down at verse number 14. I'm going to start reading while you're turning there. 2 Chronicles 11, 14, for the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem. For Jeroboam and his sons had cast them out from executing the priest's office unto the Lord. And he ordained him priest, Jeroboam did, and he ordained him priest for the high places and for the devils and for the calves which he had made. And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, now after them, verse 16, after the Levites left, After the priests left, verse number 16, and after them out of all the tribes of Israel, look at this phrase, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem. to sacrifice in the Lord God of their fathers, so they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong three years." Now, Church Family, you understand there was a mass exodus from Israel over to Judah, and what was the reason? Because Jeroboam was leading them in the wrong direction. All I'm trying to get you to see tonight in application is simply this. Sometimes Christians are listening to the wrong people, and the reason is, is you look at them as, well, they're saved, they're born again, but Church Family, they're not from the same place. I wanna tell you something, I don't listen to Christian radio. Listen, I don't try and upset you tonight, okay? And you can cast stones if you want. But I feel a whole lot safer listening to a lost person tell me what the news is than for me to listen to Christian radio. And I'm just trying to say tonight that the reason the man of God set his guard down and lost his life is because he was a prophet. He was an old prophet, but that old prophet was not from the same place. His family was not from the same place. His children are down at the false gods, worshiping the gods and talking about things that they shouldn't even know about. This old prophet did not come back to Judah and Jerusalem like everybody else did that was seeking the Lord. I wanna tell you something, over the years, I don't know how many Christians have been messed up with people at work because they're born again and saved, they don't have any standards, they don't listen to the right kind of music, and what happens is this, quote unquote, because they're born again and you're born again, we can have good fellowship. I wanna tell you something, you're gonna get yourself in trouble because you're listening to the wrong people. You're listening to the wrong people. Listen, I'm not scolding you tonight, I'm trying to get you to think tonight. Listen, you wanna listen to people that are like you. I know sometimes some people get a little nervous when I make statements about different things about, you know, I'm a Baptist for a reason. And the reason I'm a Baptist is because I believe that the New Testament church is what the Baptist church is then and that's what the Baptist church is now. If God tarries his coming, I can't for sure that it's always going to be that way. But I know right now The Bible we hold, the songs that we sing, the ministry that we do, all of it is identical and following the pattern of the New Testament church. That's why we are what we are. So why would I want to listen to a Methodist or a Presbyterian who claims to be safe? Why would I want to listen to them about their explanation of the scripture? Why can't you find somebody that's Baptist to explain the scripture? But he's a prophet. He knew God, Jehovah, but he was in the wrong place. He was not seeking the Lord. Otherwise he'd have been in Jerusalem. I know it's not a Bible verse, but there's a Bible principle. Birds of a feather. Oh, you've read the verse before. Hezekiah. That's right. But Church, I mean, there are principles in the Scripture, just like, as in water, face answered to face, so the heart of man to man. There are principles in the Scripture that we hang around what we are. The man of God was hanging around something he wasn't. There's something about the associations that we have. Listen to me, Church, I mean, I love you, but I want to tell you something. You've got to be careful that you don't just hang around somebody because, quote unquote, they're saved. The prophet knew the same God that the man of God did, but the man of God died by a lion for one reason. He thought they were the same and they weren't the same. He lied to him. You know what Christians do? It's what boxers do. I'm tired of all this independent, fundamental Bible-believing, Baptist-living. This is what Christians do. I'm tired of all this, you know, standards are important. I'm tired of all this, you know, only one Bible. I'm tired of all this, we've got to tell everybody about Jesus Christ. I want to tell you something. You're going to let your guard down and what you're going to do is you're going to end up hanging around this idea, this contemporary new type of Christian movement that, quote-unquote, we all know Jesus Christ. but we're not living like Christ, be ye holy for I am holy, and what happens is you start listening to that kind of stuff, and you're gonna make decisions for your family and for your life that is gonna cause spiritual death in your life. And it all goes back to, who are you listening to? Who are you listening to? I wanna tell you something, you've got a book and you've got the Holy Spirit and God gave you a passion, whether you like it or not, that's who God gave you, all right? For this time of life, And if I'm not here in this time of life and God gives you another pastor, that's your pastor. I think one of the biggest problems with internet is this, is that somebody else is trying to pastor somebody else's people. We got to be careful who we're listening to. The man of God lost his life because they were not from the same place. You have the old prophet who's in the very city of these false gods and Jeroboam caused all of Israel to sin. And a man of God who's in Jerusalem who worships God Jehovah at the temple that God set up for him to be able to meet with his people. Something else I want you to see tonight in this, not only did they not come from the same place, again, I'm not gonna belabor the point, but I will point it out a few times if you don't mind. Verse number one, and behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the what? The Word of the Lord, verse number one, by the Word of the Lord. Verse number two, and cried against the altar in the, what? Word of the Lord. Again, if you follow by verse number nine, again, I'm gonna skip a lot, but verse number nine, for so was it charged me by the, what? The Word of the Lord. When the prophet finally comes and talks to him, in verse 15 says, come home with me, Verse number 16, he said unto him, I may not return with thee, nor go with thee. Verse 16, neither will I eat bread or drink water with thee in this place, for it was said to me by the what? All right, now church family, again, I only pointed out a few of them, but do you know what you're gonna find again and again and again? God's word. Word of the Lord. This is what God said. But look what the prophet said. Look at your Bible in verse number 18. Verse number 18, and he said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art, and, and what? An angel spake unto me. Now, I know he says, by the word of the Lord, but an angel. Church, you know what the man of God had? I want to tell you what the man of God had. You're looking at it. The man of God had this. He didn't have some angel told me. I want to tell you, we've got to be careful who we're listening to. And I want to tell you something. It's not a hobby horse of me, but I want to tell you something. It's a conviction with me. I use the King James Bible. It's the only Bible I'm ever going to use. I've said it many a time, dad never had to stand up, as my pastor and my dad never had to stand up and say the King James Bible is the Word of God. He just said this is the Word of God. We're living in a day today you have to say this is the Word of God and the King James Bible is the Word of God. And I want to tell you something, so much junk on the internet and so many so-called Christians out there, but these other Bibles are so much easier to understand. This is the Sunday night crowd. I'm not going to offend a visitor from Sunday morning. This is a Sunday night crowd. That book you hold in your hand is the very Word of God. Church, I mean, come on. If we don't have the Word of God, why are we even here? Why would we even come to church? I'm just trying to say, you've got to be careful who you're listening to. There's a bunch of people out there telling you what some other version, some other angel said, when you've got the Word of God. The man of God didn't have to question whether or not he was not supposed to eat or drink or whether or not he was supposed to go back another direction because he already knew that. Why did he know that? Because of the word of the Lord. We're listening to all kinds of people out there that are holding all these other versions. There's over 200 different versions they call versions of the Bible. And there's all kinds of reasons for them. It's easier to understand. And these use language that's more applicable to our English language today. And this over here takes all the V's and thou's. And this one over here helps to understand who it's really talking to. And I want to just tell you really, really clearly, church family, I have never had a hard time understanding the word of God. And by the way, what I don't understand, there's too much to understand to be all caught up on what I don't understand. If the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, then I want to have the book that's got the power in it. I believe with all my heart that no matter what I don't understand, God said His Word cannot return unto Him void, and it will do what pleaseth Him. I'm with you. I don't know how many times I've read the book and I think to myself, what's it really saying? I'm with you. I've been—oftentimes I've read chapters of the Bible and think, what did I really get from it? But I have a faith in the word of God that there's something powerful about that book that changes me from the inside and will produce something on the outside. We gotta be careful who we're listening to when you're listening to people who are not from the right place. They're not from an independent Baptist church. They're not going the same direction that you're going and what you've been taught all of your life. And you think to yourself, but man alive, they seem like happy Christians or they seem like they're really blessed. And they seem like, I wanna tell you something, it doesn't matter what they seem like. He also seemed like an old prophet. But he was an old prophet that was serving around the false idols and these graven images instead of in Jerusalem where he should have been. He was an old prophet who was talking about an angel, wasn't talking about God. I want to tell you something. There are so many people who act like they're so spiritual because of all these things that they're listening to. And I want to tell you something. You're setting yourself up for failure. Failure. Our kids today are going to have to fight it more than you and I did as parents when it comes to what book do you read. And I want to tell you something, if we get lax in this area, well, it really doesn't matter. You know, they say that the New International Version, the NIV, used to be the popular one. I don't know what it is today because I don't keep up with what's false, I keep up with what's right. But they used to say the New International Version was the most popular version of the Bible and that 80% of the King James Bible was actually in the New International Version. Well, I think your thinking is the same as mine. Why would I want a Bible with 80%? If the King James Bible came from a manuscript it is the only manuscript that the King James Bible came from. But all the others came from the Vatican Sinaiticus. If all the others came from a different manuscript wouldn't that alone tell you there is something really unique about the Bible that we have? If the King James Bible is not copy written and you can go to a photocopier and you can write it out, you can send it to anyone you want and it doesn't cost you anything. But if you use any of these other versions they have a copyright and you have to pay it tells you that it's not God's word, it's man's words, that's why you're paying them to use their words. All I'm trying to say is we gotta be careful who we're listening to. We cannot just drop our guard when it comes to these people who are saved, but they've got a lot of good to them. I wanna tell you something, you gotta be careful with, you know, it's like the person who said, well, you know, it's like eating chicken, you gotta eat the meat and spit out the bones. But I wanna tell you something, why not get boneless chicken? It's a lot easier. take that little chicken nugget, pop that thing into some honey mustard, and throw the whole sucker inside your mouth. I don't have to tiptoe around the bone. This idea, well, it's okay to listen to all these other people because, you know, I'm going to pick and choose what I believe and what I don't believe. Are you listening to that? Do you understand that kind of thinking that I can pick and choose of this, okay, I'm gonna listen to all of this guy, because I really like the way he talks on the radio, and I really like how he presents on the podcast, and I really like, as far as reading about this particular fella, but I know he's not very strong in the blood of Christ. Okay, and wait a second here. You better be careful who you're listening to. The old prophet did not come in the same place. The old prophet did not have the same message. Church, we're not, We're not isolationist, we're not secular in the sense of, you know, it's us four and no more, and we're the only ones that have the truth, and we're not like the Elijah syndrome. God says, I've got 7,000 that haven't bowed their knees to Baal. I'm just telling you there's a host of people that believe that book, and there's a host of people that believe that King James Bible's the word of God, and there's a host of people that believe in standards and holy living and missions giving and soul winning and Christ-likeness. There's more than just here that believes that. But this idea of I can get my spirituality from all different kinds of people and all different kinds of religion, I'm just telling you're going to end up next to a lion dead someday, standing next to an ass, and they're going to put your body over that donkey and it's going to take it back home because spiritually you will not be anything. You're going to be dead. They weren't the same. They didn't come from the same place. They weren't the same. They didn't have the same word. Something else I want you to see is interesting here, church family. In the end of the verse there, look at verse number 26. Verse 26 says, when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, it is the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord. You know, interesting, the old prophet knew why he died. You know why the man of God died? He didn't listen to God. The guy who lied to him, you know why he died? Didn't listen to God. The man of God died by a lion. The old prophet went and picked his corpse up. He puts him into a grave and tells his two boys, he says, listen, when I die, set my body next to his. You know, it's interesting, without taking time to go read it, it's interesting when Josiah came to that place and he's digging up all the bones of all these priests and he's burning them upon the altar in Bethel, somebody came and said, hey, whose grave is that? And somebody said, oh, that's the grave of the man of God. Josiah said, leave it alone. You know, the other person that was in that grave was the old prophet, right alongside him. Churchmen, can I just tell you something? The end result was not the same for those two fellows. The man of God died a premature death. The old prophet, we don't know when he died, but he didn't die immediately like the man of God. You know why? Because they weren't the same. Churchmen, listen to me. We talked about this this morning. To whom much is given, much is I want to tell you something. These guys out there that have this happy-go-lucky Christianity, we're nice to everybody, live like you want, do what you want, and it's okay because, you know, we're all Christians here. I want to tell you something. God expects more from you. You know why? Because you know what's right. This guy didn't die. When he finally does die, he gets put in the same grave. God killed the man of God immediately because he knew exactly what God wanted. Remember what we read this morning? The person who knew his Lord's will and didn't do God's will, many stripes. The servant who didn't know his Lord's will, few stripes. All I'm trying to say is this, these people that we're listening to, if we're not careful, we think they're the same, they're not the same. I'll tell you why they're not the same. They're not from the same place. They don't even have the same word. And they're not going to have the same end. They're not going to have the same punishment that we're going to have, because we know from the Scripture what we're supposed to do. You know what's going on right now? And our young people, I don't know if they even notice it. You know what's going on right now? Excuses. You know what kind of Christianity we have? We're all trying to excuse why it's okay to live more like the world than it is to live for God. When God said, Ephesians 5, 10, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. This idea of, well, you know, we really don't have to be that separated. He said, come up from among them and be separate. That's what he said to do. But you know, we don't want to live that way. We want to listen to the old prophet. The person who quote-unquote is spiritual, the quote-unquote, he's got a Bible, that he's quote-unquote, you know, he's got things that are going to help you. But what we don't understand is he's not the same as you are. He's not the same. Church, I wouldn't get wrapped up in listening to all your internet, I don't know if they call them podcasts or what they call them, all this internet exchange on why the independent Baptist movement is so bad. I wouldn't listen at all. This is not a cult. It's not a cult. I don't have any Kool-Aid for you to drink. Mountain Dew. If you don't drink Mountain Dew, you're not going to heaven. Drink the Kool-Aid. This is not a cult. This is not legalism. There's no pressure. I want to tell you something, you know what the pressure is? Look at me now, I'm almost done. The pressure is not the pulpit. The pressure is because you're saved, you've got a Holy Spirit inside of you. There's nobody that checks up on where you're going this week. There's nobody checking to find out what you're wearing outside the doors or in the doors. There's nobody checking to find out what you talk like, whether you're talking like a Christian or talking like a worldly. There's nobody. The problem is not the church. The problem is you have a Holy Spirit and you're saved and it bothers you. And so since it bothers you, you want to be critical of the church or the pastor's preaching. He shouldn't talk about those kinds of things. I'm glad you're saved. Better be careful who you're listening to. Think about it. A person who saw the miracle of that altar being broke, the person who saw the miracle of that king's arm being frozen, the person who saw the miracle of it being unfrozen, the person who saw God do these great things in his life dies by a lion because of who's he's listening to. Let me tell you something, church, I'm done. Most Christians get out of church. not because what they're listening to from the pulpit, it's because what they're listening to on a phone. Did you hear about da, da, da, da, da, da? You know, if people who like to be gossips would spend the equal amount of time praying, God would grow this church and do some great things. But when you're critical and all you can do is talk about the bad, instead of trying to figure out how to change the bad by going to God about it, and you wanna go to everybody else about it, I wanna tell you, you better be careful who you're listening to. You better be careful who you're listening to. Hey, church family, did that lion, did he get up that morning and think to himself, man, I can't wait to find that Baptist preacher. I'm sure he's gonna be tasty. I wanna tell you something, that lion found the man of God because God put the lion where he needed to be. It wasn't an accident. And I wanna tell you something, when you start listening to the wrong people and God brings judgment upon your life, it won't be an accident. You know why? Because God told the lion where to be. God told the lion which person to kill. And I'm not gloom and doom, and I'm not telling you you're gonna die physically, but I wanna tell you something, there's some things that's worse than dying physically. I wanna tell you what they are, is losing your children to the devil. I wanna tell you there's certain things to me that are worse than dying physically, it's losing your marriage. I wanna tell you something, you gotta be careful who you're listening to. I wanna tell you something, you've got enough time in your Bible to not have to worry about all that time of just listening to nonsense. Talk to the Lord, let the Lord talk to you. Listen to preaching that will edify you and help you in your faith. But don't get washed up and messed up with things like that. Old prophets who are saying they're just like you, but they're not. They're not. Would you mind if I close your eyes tonight? Thank you so much for your attention.