All right, well, we're there in 1 Kings chapter number 13. And this morning, we're going to be in the book of 1 Kings. And of course, we've been studying the book of 1 Kings together on Wednesday nights. We've been in a verse-by-verse study through the book of 1 Kings. But we're going to go ahead and look at some of these chapters at other services at other times. We're going to be in 1 Kings 13 this morning. Now, just to catch you up, for those of you that maybe haven't been with us on Wednesday nights, of course, the study of 1 Kings is a study of the kings. 1 and 2 Kings gives us the history of the kings of Israel. And up to this point, of course, we've mainly, in the book of 1 Kings, dealt with the end of David's reign, and we saw Solomon's reign. We spent a lot of time studying the life of Solomon. and seeing his kingdom. And then of course we saw the end of his kingdom and we saw in chapter 12 specifically that the kingdom was split. If you remember Rehoboam, his son became king and because Rehoboam refused to lighten the load of the people's burden, Israel rebelled and the kingdom divided. And of course, we know that it was of the Lord, it was the Lord's judgment. Rehoboam became the king of the southern kingdom of Israel, and then Jeroboam becomes the king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Ten tribes go with Jeroboam, two tribes stay with Rehoboam. And of course, this was what God wanted. God prevented civil war. And just to give you context for chapter 13, We saw at the end there of chapter 12 that what Jeroboam does is because, of course, Jerusalem is the capital city of the southern kingdom and Jerusalem is where the Temple of the Lord is. Jeroboam, who's now the king of the northern tribes of Israel, he has this fear that if the children of Israel, the northern kingdom, if they go down to Jerusalem to worship on the feast days and on the different worship days, that their hearts are going to turn back to Rehoboam and that they're going to reunite. So what he does is he creates his own religion and he makes two idols, two golden calves, and he puts them in very convenient places. He puts them in Dan, which is the most northern part of the northern Kingdom of Israel, and then he puts them in Bethel, which is the most southern part of the northern Kingdom of Israel, just a little north of Jerusalem. And if you remember, he made a new priesthood. The Bible tells us that he made of the lowest of the people priests, not of the tribe of Levi. and he creates new feasts, he just creates a new religion, and they're still worshiping the Lord in his mind, but they're worshiping idols, they've got different feasts, they've got different priests, and it's just an alternative worship system designed to keep people from going to Jerusalem. So that's what we left off in chapter number 12, and in chapter 13 we're going to see that God sends a man of God to deal with what's happening here in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And there are really two main characters that are introduced in this chapter. A man who's unnamed, who goes just referred to as the man of God. And then there's also the old prophet that is mentioned in the chapter. There's actually a lot in this chapter and I don't know that we can cover it all in one sermon. So we're going to see how far we get. I think we might just deal with the man of God. But there's a lot of interesting things going on here. Now I want to just highlight for you some things about this man of God. And if you notice there in 1 Kings 13, in verse number 1, Bethel, the Bible says there in verse 1, So when he gets there, Jeroboam, the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, is standing by the altar to burn incense. So it seems that Jeroboam himself, since in chapter 12 we're told that Jeroboam made of the lowest people of the people to be priests, apparently he made himself a priest as well because he's just burning incense by the altar. So this man of God shows up out of Judah and there's just some things I want to highlight for you here from this first verse. First of all, Notice that there is an emphasis on the Word of God. The Bible says that the man of God came out of Judah by the Word of the Lord. And we'll probably deal with that more next time when we look at the rest of this chapter. But just from the very beginning, from the first verse, there is an emphasis between the Word of the Lord and the man of God. But I want you to notice just several things here. First of all, of course, we've already been talking about the fact that there's this unnamed man of God mentioned here in this verse. And he is the main character of this chapter. And this phrase, man of God, is a phrase that is used in scripture and it's used around 78 times in our King James Bible. And I say around 78 times because it depends how you break it down or how you count it because sometimes it's repeated. But it's used 78 times or so in scripture, this phrase, the man of God. And it's used sometimes anonymously, like we're seeing here in 1 Kings 13, where there's just a reference to a man of God. We're not told his name. We're not told anything about him, really. He's just referred to as the man of God. And there's other places in the scripture where that happens as well, where it's just an anonymous individual. But then there are some very well-known Bible characters that are referred to as the man of God as well. For example, I won't have you turn to any of these, but if you want to jot these down for your notes, Moses is referred to as the man of God in Deuteronomy 33 and verse 1, also in Psalm 90. in the title of Psalm 90. Samuel is referred to as the man of God in 1 Samuel 9 verses 6-10. David is referred to as a man of God in Nehemiah 12, 24, chapter 12, verse 24 and verse 36. Elijah is referred to as a man of God in 1 Kings 17, verses 18 and 24. Elisha is referred to as a man of God in 2nd Kings chapter 4 verses 7 through 9 and many times. So you can see that there are some very impressive names here of people that are called the man of God. Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, Elisha, these are some heavy hitters in the Old Testament. So what that tells us about these unnamed men of God is that they must have been very godly men, very impressive men, even though we don't know who they are, to be given the same title as Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, Elisha, That is an interesting thing. And here we see in this verse that this man of God came from the southern kingdom of Judah into the northern kingdom of Israel. And he kind of came almost like a missionary into the northern kingdom. And again, this is just something to maybe store in your file for the rest of the chapter. But apparently there was no one in the northern kingdom that God wanted to use or was able to use in order to deliver this message to Jeroboam. So God has to send a man of God from the southern kingdom into the northern kingdom. Now that's important because in this chapter we're introduced to another prophet and he's referred to just as the old prophet. And he's already in the Northern Kingdom, but God doesn't use him, doesn't call him. And that tells us something about that man. There is an emphasis, again, from the beginning on the Word of God. And here's what's interesting about this phrase, the man of God. is that in scripture, of course, this is a statement that is used as a title, and it often refers to a man or an individual who represents the Lord. They are speaking on behalf of the Lord, they're preaching the word of the Lord, and they're called the man of God. or referred to as the man of God. There's references to this in the New Testament as well. There's a couple of times that the phrase is used in the New Testament, although it's primarily used in the Old Testament. Here's what's interesting about the statement, the man of God. is that this is something that other people call the individual. They are referred to by others as the man of God, or they're referred to by the narrator of the Bible, whoever it is. We know the narrator, of course, the Holy Spirit, but whoever happens to be the human narrator of that book refers to these individuals as the man of God. What's interesting is that there's nowhere in the Bible where anybody ever refers to themselves as the man of God. Nobody ever says, I am the man of God. This is a reference that is always bestowed upon someone. The idea is that people see an individual, they see their life, they see their ministry, they see what they're doing, and they say, that is a man of God. They acknowledge them as a man of God. And what's interesting about this man of God is that he's not named. Now, you might think, well, that's just a coincidence. But in the Bible, there's nothing that's incidental, coincidental, accidental. And something that you may have missed in the chapter, and we'll look at it when we get to it here in a minute, is that this chapter is actually, one of the reasons that it's highlighted in scripture is because a very famous name is given in this chapter and predicted hundreds of years before the individual is born. So there's no issue with being able to name names or give names. God could have told us the name of this individual, just like we know the name of Moses and Samuel and David and Elijah and Elisha. But this man of God is anonymous. We are not told who he is. We're just told that he is a man of God. In fact, the closest thing that you really get to anybody acknowledging themselves as the man of God or calling themselves the man of God is actually in this chapter where the old prophet walks up to the man of God and he asks him the question, are thou the man of God that came as from Judah? And he responds, I am. But again, he doesn't declare it for himself. This is something that people bestow upon him. It wasn't a status thing. It was something that was recognized. And, you know, today what we have is many so-called men of God who are more concerned with their own fame and their own self-promotion than anything else. But this man wasn't that because he shows up and he gives us a very famous name, the name of Josiah, which we're going to see here in a minute. But he never gives us his name. He never proclaims himself. He never says anything about himself. And I think what we see in this chapter is some marks of a man of God. What does a man of God look like? The phrase is used a lot throughout Scripture. It's given a lot throughout Scripture. But I would say that this is probably the most well-known chapter where we're given a lot of information about an individual. and just constantly being referred to as the man of God, the man of God, the man of God. And I think we see some characteristics here, some marks of the man of God, and I'll highlight them for you as we move through the passage. But the first one is this, if you want to write it down, and it is this, that the man of God promoted the message, not the person. He did not promote himself. He did not promote the man. He didn't show up and say, I'm the man of God, and here's my name, and follow me on Instagram, or follow me on Facebook, or follow me. He wasn't promoting himself. He was simply there to promote the Word of God. And I think this is something that's important for us to understand, is that God wants to use people that are humble. God wants to use people that are not trying to take the spotlight or have the spotlight upon themselves. This man of God shows up, he gives us a name, Josiah, we'll see it again here in a minute, but he never gives us his name. The Bible never gives us his name. The narrator never gives us his name, because really, and I think this is a very impressive man, and I think that God was using him, and he was used of God. Obviously, we're gonna see that if he had a failure at the end of the chapter there, and he was deceived, and he was lied to, and I'm looking forward one day in heaven to meeting this man of God. But you know, the reason that we're not given his name is because in the big scope of Christianity, and in the big scope of God's agenda, and in the big scope of the things of the Lord, his name doesn't matter. And I don't mean that in any sort of rude way, but I think it is important for us to understand that in the big scope of the Christian life, his name doesn't matter, my name doesn't matter, your name doesn't matter, only God matters. Let me just run some verses with you, if you don't mind, real quickly, and we'll look at some cross-references. Keep your place there in 1 Kings 13, but go with me to the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1. In the New Testament, you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, then 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1. So I want you to notice some things about this man of God. And the first thing is this, that he promoted the message, not the person. He did not come there to promote himself, to make sure people knew who he was, to make sure people knew what his name was, he pointed people to God, not to himself. He pointed people to the Word of God, not to the person delivering the Word of God. Now this is something that we learn about this man of God, but I think that this is something that we can all apply to ourselves. Now, like I said, the man of God is a phrase that is used for men that represent God. And in the New Testament, it's used about, for example, Paul refers to Timothy as a man of God. And of course, that's given to a pastor in a pastoral epistle. But you know what the Bible says about pastors is this, and what Paul tells us about Timothy is that he was to be an example. And the pastor is to be an example and the way that he lives. So the idea is this, that we don't have this category of individuals, the man of God, and like they're special and they're above everyone else. No, you know what? Anything that applies to the pastor applies to you as well. And anything that applies to this man of God, we can learn from it. And we can apply it. And I think one thing that we can apply if we want to be people that God can use, right? God was looking down from heaven. He needed a message to be given to Jeroboam. He looked all over the northern kingdom. He saw an old prophet. He said, I can't use him. But he saw this man of God. And I think what he saw was a humble man, a man who was not interested in self-promotion. And he said, there is an individual that I can use. And I think in my life, in your life, if we want to be used by God, we're going to have to be humble people. We need to realize that it's not all about us. In 1 Corinthians 1, are you there? Look down at verse number 31. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 31, the Bible says this, that according as it is written, notice what Paul says here to the church of Corinth. He says, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The word glory there. a way that the word is being used, and it's not exactly, but the way the word is being used there means to show off or to brag. If you're going to boast about something, if you're going to glory in something, if you're going to glory in anything, he says, look, he that glorieth, he said, let him glory in the Lord. And the truth of matters is that the only thing that you and I have to brag about is the Lord. And the only good thing in us is any good thing that God has done through us and that God has helped us in. You're there in 1 Corinthians 1, flip over to 2 Corinthians chapter number 4. 2 Corinthians chapter number 4. While you turn there, let me read this quote to you. Someone said this, the true test of a servant is how he reacts when he is treated like one. See, I think we often say things like, yeah, we want to serve, and we want to serve the Lord, and we're servants of the Lord. But here's the thing about a servant, is that how do you react when you're treated like a servant? What about when you don't get credit? What about when you don't get the thank you? What about when they forget to put your name on the list? What about when they forget to acknowledge you? See, I think it's easy to say, oh, we're here to serve the Lord, as long as I get the credit. We're here to serve the Lord as long as I get acknowledged. We're here to serve the Lord as long as I feel appreciated. But see, the true test of a servant is not that he serves, but it's how he reacts when he's treated like a servant. In 2 Corinthians 4, in verse 5, the Apostle Paul said this. He said, for we preach, notice what he says, not ourselves. but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. And I think we need to understand this thing that if we're gonna be used of God, we're gonna have to stop thinking so highly of ourselves. In fact, we need to just stop thinking about ourselves altogether. You're there in 2 Corinthians 4. Go backwards to Romans 12, if you don't mind. Romans 3. You're there in 2 Corinthians. Go past 1 Corinthians into Romans 12. So the first lesson we learn from this man of God is a lesson on humility. And it is that he promoted the message, not the person. He promoted the things of God. And look, this is taught all throughout Scripture. We could spend all morning just on this one point. I'm not going to. But all throughout Scripture, what are we constantly being told? What is Jesus teaching us? He's teaching us to pray, thy will be done. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. What did Jesus pray? He prayed, not my will, but thine be done. The idea is this, that we've got to take second place to the Lord. The Lord has to be the priority in our lives. The Lord has to come first in our lives. And we need to, we talked about it I think on Wednesday night, where John the Baptist said, he must increase and I must decrease. Romans chapter 12 and verse number three. Notice what Paul says here to the church at Rome. Romans 12 and verse three. And I would say, and excuse me, I don't mean this in any sort of rude way, and I hope you understand my heart, but I would say that this may be the biggest problem that you and I have. In Romans chapter 12 and verse three, the Bible says this, for I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, Notice what Paul says. Paul says, here's the advice that I want to give. He says, for I say, and he says through the grace given unto me. He said, I'm saying this to you with as much grace as I can and from a source of grace. He says, to every man. He says, this is something that everyone needs to deal with. Every person needs to deal with this idea. To every man that is among you, He says, here's my advice, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. He said, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. He said, how should I think of myself? You should think of yourself as a sinner saved by grace. Look, you and I, all we are is sinners. All we are, I heard a preacher say, all we are is flesh. All this is is flesh. All you have is flesh. Now we can dress it up, we can comb the hair, we can put nice clothes on it, we can put nice, ladies put nice dresses on it, and men put nice suits and clothing on it, and we can get a Bible, and we can put a smile on, and all of that. But at the end of the day, all you are, and all I am, is a sinner, Paul said, O wretched man that I am! And all that we are is by God's grace. Paul said, all I am is by the grace of the Lord. So we ought to not think too highly of ourselves. not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, to think seriously. The idea there is to be serious. Look, here's all I'm saying to you, is when we start getting a little, you know, puffed up and, well, if they knew who I was, how can they talk to me that way? How can they? The idea is we should step back and be, come on, consider this seriously. Who really are you? What really do you deserve? Because according to the Bible, here's what you deserve and here's what I deserve is to die and go to hell. And if we get anything above that, it's God's grace. So we ought to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. What if you were given a chapter, a whole chapter in the Bible, wouldn't you love that? I mean, I guess it depends what the chapter says. But wouldn't you love to have a whole chapter dedicated to you in the Bible? Here's a story of you. Here's what happened, and God placed it by the Holy Spirit of God. He placed it in Scripture, in the Holy Scriptures, a whole story, and it's a pretty cool story. He shows up, He preaches a sermon, He performs a miracle, He gives a prophecy. What if God gave you a whole chapter in the Bible and never gave your name? Well, I should have told them who I was. Why? See, one lesson about this man of God is that he promoted the message, not the person. And here's what I'm saying to you, and I think an application for us is this, that we need to remember that it is not all about us. And look again, I say this to you as kindly as I can. But I think one of the biggest problems that we have in life, problems we have in church, relational problems at work, in your house, in your personal life, in whatever it might be, I think it's just that we think too highly of ourselves. You know the Bible says in Proverbs, only by pride cometh contention? But with the well-advised is wisdom. The Bible says only by pride cometh contention. Whenever there's contention, mark it down, it's because of pride. Either one or probably both parties are having an issue there with pride. And here's what I'm saying to you, is when we think too highly, or you say, well, I don't think too highly of myself, but it shows itself in different ways. Look, sometimes it's just too many opinions. We have too many opinions. Too much drama. Too much, well, it's my right, and I'm justified, and I'm this, and I'm that. All of that is wrapped up in this. Don't they know who I am? Well, no, actually, we don't know who you are, man of God, in 1 Corinthians 13. We were never given your name, and that's how it should be. So we learn from this man that the glory should go to God. Can you make your way back to 1 Kings 13? 1 Kings 13. So some lessons about this man of God, I think some marks of a man of God. Because I think we should learn from this, and I think we should apply this to our lives. And the first lesson is this, that he promoted the message, not the person. And I think in life, you're going to do more for God, and you're going to accomplish more for God. And I'm going to do more for God, and accomplish more to God, if we remember this, that it's not about us. It's not about making sure our name gets mentioned, or making sure our name gets put there, or making sure we get the credit, or making sure that the spotlight is on us. It's about the Lord. And we say, oh, we do it for the Lord, but do we? So we see that he promoted the message, not the person. Now I want you to notice the second thing about this man of God. We saw there in verse number one, and behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethlehem. And Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. He shows up and Jeroboam is burning incense. Notice verse number two. The Bible says, and he, this is the man of God, the unnamed man of God, cried against the altar. I like this because I think this is interesting. There's an altar there where they're sacrificing, they're burning incense, they're worshiping an idol. And this man of God shows up And he cried, the word cried means to yell, to raise your voice. He cried, but he cries against the altar. I just think that's interesting. He's preaching to the altar and against the altar. Notice the Bible says there, again we see this emphasis, in 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. And then notice here, Josiah by name. So again, it's not that the writer of this chapter, the Holy Spirit was just not wanting to use names because he gives us one very famous name here, Josiah. And the man of God, who doesn't give us his name, shows up and gives us the name of a child that shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name. And upon thee, he's speaking to the altar, he says, shall he, referring to Josiah, Offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. So here's what the man of God does. He shows up, Jeroboam's there at the altar, and he starts speaking to the altar. And he says, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord. And he begins to tell the altar, and of course everyone who's listening, that a child's going to be born. by the name of Josiah, and that Josiah is going to offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee. And here's what's interesting about this, is that this unnamed man of God prophesied that one day a child will be born named by Josiah. He's going to burn the false priest that sacrificed at this altar. And this was amazingly fulfilled, we're told, 300 years or so. after the fact. In fact, let's just look at it real quickly. There in 1 Kings 13. Flip over to 2 Kings 23. 2 Kings 23. And the reason it's important that it was 300 years is because 300 years later, of course, this is a very buried prophecy. And I won't take the time to go through The story of Josiah, we've talked about Josiah in the past and preached about Josiah. But if you remember, one of the great things that Josiah did was that he brought a revival. When he became king, he brought a revival. Josiah became king when he was eight years old. And he was a very godly man. Of course, he reigned for a long time. He brought a revival. But if you remember, when Josiah was king, they had lost the word of God. They didn't have the word of God. In fact, one of the things that Josiah did was that he began to repair the temple and he began to clean the temple. And when they began to clean the temple and repair the temple, they actually found the Word of God. And he began to read it and he began to get right with God. And that's why he led a revival. So I want you to understand that when we read about Josiah, Josiah was not aware of this prophecy. This prophecy was 300 years old. It was in the Bible, but they didn't even have the Bible. Nobody was reading the Bible. Nobody was studying the Bible. In 2 Kings 23, in verse 15, the Bible says this. This is when Josiah is leading that revival. He's starting to clean up the nation of Israel. He's starting to deal with idolatry. 1 Kings 23, 15 says, So that's what we're reading about in 1 Kings. Josiah shows up, and the Bible says, Notice what the Bible says that Josiah does. He broke down and burned the high places, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, Notice what the Bible says, So Josiah, he's not aware that he's fulfilling prophecy, he's just showing up and he's removing idols and he gets to the altar in Bethel and the Bible says that he made both the altar and the high place, he break down and he burnt the high places and he stamped it's malted powder and burnt the grove and Josiah he just turned himself and when he turned he happened to see that they have the graves of those false prophets that had burnt incense and he says dig them up and he and they dug him up and they took the bones and he burns the bones on that altar fulfilling the prophecy that was given 300 years earlier by this man of God. So we see that the man of God, he shows up, and not only did he promote the message and not the person, but I want you to notice secondly, if you can go back to 1 Kings 13, that he proclaimed the truth and not opinion. He didn't say, let me tell you what I think about this altar. He said, let me tell you what God thinks about this altar. He cried, verse 2, against the altar, and the Bible says, in the word of the Lord. He cried in the word of the Lord. And he prophesied of Josiah. And this is interesting, again, because this is very special in the sense that we're given the name of a king. He's prophesied by name 300 years earlier. This is not the only time this happens in the Bible, by the way, if you're interested for your notes. Cyrus, the king of Persia, is prophesied in the Bible by name as well, about 150 years or so before his birth. And of course, you say, why does God do that? You know, God does that, I think, to show us that He is the Lord of the Earth. That He knows the beginning from the end. He knew who Josiah was. He knew who Cyrus was. And He gave us those prophecies before any human being, of course, would have been able to do it. Notice verse number three, 1 Kings 13 and verse three. The Bible says, and he, this is the man of God, gave a sign. Because we just saw how this was fulfilled. But obviously, in the moment, they didn't know that, right? He shows up and he says, God's going to... You have a child born, Josiah by name, and he's going to burn the priest. Now we saw in 2 Kings where that was fulfilled 300 some odd years later. But in the moment, he prophesies that, and then what he does is he gives an instant sign. Look at verse 3. And he gave a sign the same day. So he prophesies about something in the future, but he also gives them a sign that 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. 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, this is King Jeroboam, notice what the Bible says, put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him! So here's what's happening. Jeroboam's at the altar. He's sinning, he's performing idolatry, he's burning incense, And this man of God shows up, and he begins to preach against the altar, preaching against Jeroboam, talking about the prophecies, and Jeroboam gets upset. And the Bible tells us there in verse number four, So he puts forth his hand, he's pointing at this man from the altar and he's telling the soldiers and the guards, lay hold on him. Obviously he's upset about this. He's mad at the man of God. He doesn't like what is being preached. The Bible says, King Jeroboam put forth against him dried up so that he could not pull it again to him. So immediately he puts his hand out and he says, lay hold on him! And then he can't. He can't pull it back. God performs his miracle. Now there's a couple of things here that we can see. Obviously we see here that he proclaimed the truth, this man of God. And by the way, we need to make sure that we are teaching and preaching the Word of God. And we need to preach the Word of God. You know what Paul told Timothy? He told Timothy, preach the Word. Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. You know, it's interesting to me, people like to teach things that are not in the Bible. I've had conversations with people, even recently, where they're upset with me because, you won't preach this! And I'm like, well, show me the verse and I'll preach it. Show me where it is in the Bible. Look, you know what the Bible says is a characteristic of a man of God is that, not that they're not preaching what the Bible doesn't say, they're preaching what the Bible does say. Preach the Word. That's all we have. Look, my opinion doesn't matter. Your opinion, it goes back to that first point. What you think and what I think and how we feel about it, none of it matters. Only one thing matters, the Word of God. So we must preach the Word of God. We must be instant in season, out of season. That means we preach the Word of God whether it's popular or not. Whether people like it or not. Reprove, rebuke, exhort. Those two words, reprove, rebuke, are negative. Exhort, positive. And when we preach the Word of God, sometimes it's going to be negative and sometimes it's going to be positive. And a lot of times that has to do more with you than the preacher. You know, people like to get mad at preachers and say, oh, he's a negative preacher. And I like to tell people, I'm not a negative preacher, maybe you're a negative listener. Because you know, the preaching, how negative, it's just always interesting to me, because people are like, oh, he's negative, and he's, I just don't, I wanna go somewhere where I hear something positive. Well, here's the thing, you wanna go somewhere where you hear something positive? That's totally dependent on you. Because the thing about the message being negative or positive, that actually has more to do with you than the message. For example, you say, well, he preaches on soul winning and I don't like it. But you don't like it because you're not a soul winner. The soul winners like it. If people tithe and the preacher's not tithing, they're like, praise the Lord. I mean, to them, the verse about, open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, they're like, I preach on tithing, and tithers are like, that was a great sermon. That was so positive. And then the cheapskates that are robbing from God, oh, that was so negative. Well, look, that has more to do with you. When you say the preaching is negative, maybe you're just a negative Christian. Maybe you need to just get right with God on some things. Maybe you need to just fix some things, and then all of a sudden, those negative sermons become positive. It's funny because people will say like, oh pastor, you know, you've changed. When I first came to church, you know, you used to preach really hard and it was all these things. Now it's all positive. And it's like, I'm still preaching the same things. What happened is you changed. When you first showed up, you were doing a lot of things wrong. Now, praise God, you're doing a lot of things right. The sermons are getting more positive because you're getting more positive. And obviously, we all need to be rebuked. We all need to be reproved. We all need to be exhorted. But look, the idea is this, that this man, Jeroboam, did not receive the sermon well. God brought him, a man of God, into his life to deliver a message. And his response was, lay hold on him! So here's another application for us. And it is this. How do we receive the preaching of God's Word? Do we take it well? Do we receive it well? Do we just get mad and angry? Or do we say, no, that's what I needed to hear. That is what the Bible says. I need to work in that area. Here we see that King Jeroboam, he did not receive the message well. And look, here's the thing about preaching that never confronts sin or that never confronts people or that's just never quote unquote negative, is that it may fill buildings, but it's never going to help you. What you and I need is for the Word of God to tell us, hey, fix this. Stop doing this. Start doing this. Here's how you should think. That's what we need. You don't need somebody telling you, oh, you need to, you're great. You need somebody telling you, you're thinking too highly of yourself. So we see that this man, he promoted the message, not the person. And he proclaimed the truth, not his opinion. The message of the man of God was not popular. The message of the man of God angered the recipients. Jeroboam was upset. He said, lay hold on him. And the idea is that he wanted men to grab him. And I'm sure he's going to hurt him. Maybe he was going to kill him. Maybe he was going to imprison him. Maybe he was going to beat him up. But God comes in. And when he puts out his hand and he says, lay hold on him, the Bible says, and his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it again to him. And then we see a third characteristic about this man. Notice we see, number one, that he promoted the message, not the person. It wasn't about him. He didn't think too highly of himself. And he proclaimed the truth, not his opinion. He just said what the Bible said. He said what God's Word said. He said what God said, not what people wanted to hear. And look, we need to place the emphasis where God places the emphasis. Let me just preach the Bible. I want you to notice the third thing about this man of God. And it is this. That he possessed grace, not pettiness. Why don't you notice how he responded? Because again, he shows up, he preaches a sermon. Jeroboam, he's not just, you know, silent about it. He's upset about it. The Bible says that he put forth his hand in the altar, sang, 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. Verse 5, the altar also was rent. This is pretty interesting, right? I mean, he gets up and he says, preaches a sermon. Jeroboam gets mad, says, lay all on him. His hand gets stuck. And then also what he just said happens. The altar was rent and the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God had given. Notice the emphasis again. by the word of the Lord. We're preaching what the Bible says, not what it doesn't say. And notice verse 6. And the king, this is Jeroboam, you know, he's going to be stuck like this for the rest of his life if something doesn't happen. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now, the word entreat means beseech or ask or beg. He says, entreat now the face of the Lord thy God and pray for me that my hand may be restored again. Again, I think some interesting things. Jeroboam, you set up these golden cows. You're burning incense at this altar. But now that your hand is stuck, You're going to the man of God who you were just going to have arrested. You were just going to have beat up or put to death or whatever. Now he's going to this man of God and he's saying, entreat now the face of the Lord thy God. Why don't you pray to your golden cows? Why don't you pray to your idols? He's asking the man of God to 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. Now, here's the thing. If this was me, and maybe if it was you, I mean, if it was me, I'd be like, that's what you get. You're gonna be like that for the rest of your life. You know, imagine you're a bum going home. His wife's like, what? What am I supposed to be looking at? What are you pointing at? You know, if it was me, I'd be like, whatever. Pray to your idols. That's what you get. That's what you deserve. But notice, I think God wants to highlight something for us about this man of God. He says, pray for me that my hand may be restored to me again. Excuse me. And the Bible says, and the man of God besought the Lord. And the king's hand was restored in him again. And became as it was before. Why don't you notice that this man of God not only promoted the message and not the person, not only did he proclaim the truth, not his opinion, but something interesting about this man is that he possessed grace, not pettiness. He didn't react in anger. He didn't react in revenge. This guy literally just wanted to hurt him. Lay hold on him! And now he's saying, pray for me. And you know what he does? He prays for him. He besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him again. And I think there's an application, I think, for all of us, and it is this, that we need to be people of mercy. We need to not hold grudges. We need to let things go. And you know, I think this goes back to all of this, this man is a special man, because all these things work together. You know why we are petty? It's because we think too highly of ourselves. You know why we hold grudges? It's because we think too highly of ourselves. This man was a humble man. He was not promoting himself, not promoting his name, not promoting what he was doing. He promoted the message of God, not the man, not the person. He proclaimed the truth, not his own opinion. You know why he didn't proclaim his own opinions? Because he didn't think anything good about his own opinions. He just wanted to preach the Word of God. And he possessed grace and not pettiness. Why? Because he was a humble man. And we need to be people of mercy. We need to be people who let things go. Let's run some verses real quickly if you don't mind. Go to Proverbs chapter 19. Proverbs chapter 19. If you open up your Bible just right in the book of Psalms, which is the center of the Bible, right after Psalms you have the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 19. You know, oftentimes as a pastor, over 15 years, my wife and I have had to obviously deal with a lot of situations where people sometimes have problems, and we understand that. Anytime you get sinful people together, you're gonna have issues. And what I tell people all the time, and I tell people all the same thing because, look, you're not special. There's nothing, again, I don't mean that in any sort of rude way. In the whole scope of life, I'm not special, you're not special. We're normal human beings. All the same things apply to all of us. You know, oftentimes what I tell people when they're having issues, they're having problems, I say, look, look, here's what the Bible says. You've got two options. Option number one is you can, and there's lots of verses about this, you can, Jesus called it this, turn the other cheek, right? Someone smacks you in one cheek and you decide to let it go and you turn the other cheek. That's how Jesus said it. Paul said it this way, we can esteem others better than ourselves. He also called it suffering yourself to be defrauded. It's taught all throughout scripture. You can just let things go. That's one option. Now here's the thing, we're human beings and sometimes we can't let things go. And some things are more difficult than others. Some things are more extreme than others. So there's another option. The other option is, if you can't let it go, then Jesus also gave us a Matthew 18 process where you are to go to the individual that offended you or did something wrong to you. and speak to them about it, and try to resolve it, because we're brothers and sisters in Christ. Those are the two options. And oftentimes people say to me, well, which one am I supposed to do? And I tell them, look, it's not me telling you which one to do or you deciding which one to do. What you have to decide is this, can I let this go without being bitter and angry and upset about it? If the answer is yes, then just let it go. But if you can't, then you should go to it. So the context dictates which option you should take. And I've taught this clearly. I mean, this conversation I've had a million times. That's probably an exaggeration, but a lot of times. And I tell people, option one, if you can let it go, and honestly let it go, I mean literally let it go, not pretend to let it go, but in the back of your mind you're just bitter and angry. That's not option one. If you can let it go, let it go. If you can't let it go, then talk to the individual. But you know what I've found? That human beings always love option number three. which is not an option I ever give. But option number three is this, I'm not going to let it go and I'm not going to deal with it either. I'm just going to be bitter and angry about it and cause problems and issues. That's not a biblical option. And you know why we go there? You know why I go there? Because I think too highly of myself. Well, I don't deserve this. You deserve hell. That's what you deserve. That's what I deserve. So this man of God, he's literally, the king's pointing at him, saying, grab him! And in that moment, you know what he did? He forgave. You're there in Proverbs 19, but let me read to you Ephesians 4-32. The Bible says, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. You say, well, why should I be able to let it go? Here's why you should be able to let it go, because God let it go. Well, why should I stop bringing it up? Because God stopped bringing it up. Why should I stop being angry at them? Because God stopped being angry at you. Look, I understand it's easier said than done. I get that. And some things are more extreme than others. And I'm not judging you. I'm just telling you, here's what the Bible says. Because if you told me your story, or I told you your story, if I handed you the mic and you said, but no, let me tell you, this is what they did, look, I would probably agree with you, I'd probably be bitter too, and I'd be, I get that, but here's the thing, I can't give you my thoughts, all I can give you is what the Bible says, and here's what the Bible says. Be ye kind one to another. Tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. In Proverbs 19, 11, the Bible says this, the discretion of a man, The word discretion means wisdom, it means understanding, it means the person who has wisdom, who can think things through. He says, the discretion of a man, the understanding of a person defereth, the word defer means to delay, to hold back, to slow down his anger. And it is the glory, the honor to pass over a transgression. Look, obviously, some things are more injurious than others. Some things are bigger. I'm not saying that every time you should just forgive. I mean, in this instance, the man of God said, I'll pray for you, no problem. Sometimes you need to deal with things. Sometimes you have to go to individuals. Sometimes conversations need to be had. That's not the point. The point that I'm making is this. When we start getting bitter and angry and upset and causing problems and contentions and divisions, mark it down. Only by pride come to contention. We just think a little too highly of ourselves. And bitterness is a dumb thing to practice, because bitterness, you've heard it said, is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. It doesn't help anything. I want you to notice that we see the marks of this man of God. He promoted the message, not the person. He proclaimed the truth, not his opinion. He possessed grace, not pettiness. He wasn't petty. He was the bigger man here. He prayed for the king and the king's hand was restored him again. And he became as it was before. And I've said it to you many times, spiritual people will take a big deal and they'll make it small. Carnal people will take a small thing and make it big. Which one are you? I want you to notice a fourth thing about this man of God. In verse seven, the Bible says this, and the king, this is Jeroboam of course, said unto the man of God, come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. So now he's happy because he helped him, right? 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. Now this is important for later on in the chapter. He's being kind of rude here. Why won't you go have lunch with him? Here's why. Again, notice there's an emphasis in this chapter. He said, He told me to come. He told me to preach. He told me about this guy named Josiah. He told me to do these things. But God told me, when you go there, I want you to go a certain way. I want you to eat no bread, nor drink water. Look at verse 9. 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. He said, go there. Say what I want you to say. Don't stop to eat bread. Don't stop to drink water. Here's what he's saying. Don't stop to fellowship. You know there are some people you shouldn't fellowship with? And he said, and leave a different way that you came. Notice verse 10. So he, the man of God, went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. Here's an application for us, and it is this, that we need to obey God's word even if it costs us. Even if it costs us opportunity. Even if it costs us riches. Even if it costs us status. Here he was given an opportunity. The king, the king, do you know how many people would love to have lunch with the king? The king is asking him to come to my house and to be refreshed. He said, refresh thyself and I will give thee a reward. Come home with me. The man of God said, no. He said, I'm going to obey God. God said not to eat bread, not to drink water, not to turn again the same way. It reminds me of Hebrews. You don't have to turn there, but in Hebrews 11, The Bible says about Moses, by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. You know what we need to do if we want to be like this man? We want to be individuals that can be used of God. We must pursue obedience, not personal gain. He wasn't motivated by money. He wasn't motivated by rewards. He wasn't motivated by recognition. And look, I just think it's interesting because as I've seen people become backslidden, people get out of the work of the Lord, people stop living for God. You know what it often is? It's their pride. or covetousness. It's not accepting the preaching of God's Word well. And these are all things that we see in this man of God. We see that the preaching of God's Word was paramount, that we must receive it well. We must not think to highly of ourselves. We must be people of grace and mercy. So we see that he denied, he declined the invitation. He said, the word of the Lord told me not to do it. And then just one last thing. and will be done. Look at verse 10. So he went another way and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. You know where the man of God was invited to go? By God. He didn't get the invitation from Jeroboam, he got the invitation from God. But he was invited to go and have a preaching service. He was invited to go to Bethel and preach a sermon, and preach God's Word, and God's Word had an effect, and God's Word had power. And here's what's interesting. He came one way and he left another. Notice verse 10. He went another way and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. You know, one of the things that should happen to you as you come to church is that you should come one way and leave different. You should come a certain way and leave changed. You should come one way, thinking one way, having one attitude, having a certain thought or certain thing, but then you leave differently. I hear he literally physically left differently, but I'm saying in your mind, in your heart, spiritually, we should come and hear the Word of God preached and then leave differently. But there's only one way that can happen, if you stop thinking so highly of yourself. And if you start receiving the Word of God well. If you start having grace and mercy with others, and if you decide you're going to pursue obedience and not personal gain. Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6.11, but thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Let's bow our heads in humble prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this passage of scripture and for this story, this unnamed man of God who we're not told about we don't know what his name is but you know it doesn't matter what his name is because the reality is that you know what his name is and that's all that matters and Lord I pray you'd help us to learn from this man of God we'll see later in the chapter There were some failures there. And of course, there usually is with us humans. But I pray you'd help us learn from this first part of his life. Help us to be humble. Help us to be merciful. Help us to receive correction well. Help us to prioritize the word of God, not personal gain. Lord, I pray you'd help us to learn from this man of God. Thank you for this man of God. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to incorporate some of these things in our lives. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.