A PREACHER LEARNS THE HARD WAY
TEXT: 1 Kings 13:1-32
INTRODUCTION:
1.  Rehoboam , son of Solomon became King at the death of his father.
2.  Jeroboam, the Captain of Solomon's army, who had been exiled in Egypt, returned.
3. Jeroboam and the people approached the new King and asked him to lighten the taxes levied against them by his late father.
4. He asked the advice of the old men and they advised that he lighten the taxes, but he rejected their advice and took the advice of the young men, who told him to make it even harder on them than his father had.
5. At this news, the Kingdom of Israel split into two Kingdoms.
     a.  Rehoboam ruled the Southern Kingdom consisting of Judah and Benjamin.
     b.   Jeroboam ruled the Northern Kingdom consisting of the other ten tribes.
6. Although he was a powerful king, Jeroboam began to worry that the people would re-unite if they were to continue to go to Jerusalem to worship.
a. So he set up two new places to worship, Dan in the northern part of the Kingdom and Bethel in the southern part.
b. He made golden calves and set up altars in these places.
c. He appointed priests that were not from the tribe of Levi.
d. He made feast days other than those authorized by God.
e. He took part in these rituals himself!
7. A prophet from Bethel (a man of God) was sent by God to Jeroboam to denounce this idol 
       worship (1 Kings 13:1-3).
a. He predicted the birth of Josiah some 450 years in the future.
b. He predicted that Josiah would destroy the false system of worship set up by Jeroboam.
c. To prove that he was speaking the words of the Lord, he commanded the altar to split and the ashes to spill out on the ground.
d. When this was spoken, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar and commanded that the prophet be arrested.
e. His hand then withered so that he could not withdraw it.
f. And the altar did split just as he had said.
8. Jeroboam attempted to reconcile by offering him food and drink.
9. The prophet had been commanded by the Lord not to eat or drink in that place and to travel home by a way other than that by which he came.
10. Having won a great moral victory over a very powerful King, the prophet started home.
a. An old prophet from Bethel, heard of the incident at the altar, and went out to meet the man of God
b. He offered the man hospitality and he refused.
c. The old prophet then lied and claimed to have been told by the Lord that it was all right for him to eat and drink now.
d. After their meal the old prophet received a genuine word from God, a judgment on the man of God for disobeying God's original instructions.
e. The man of God departed, but a lion killed him on the way; when the old prophet heard of it he retrieved the body, buried it in his own grave, and instructed his sons to bury his body beside the Man of God.
11. The postscript to this story comes in 2 Kings 23:15-18, during Josiah's reformation. At that time the prediction made by the man of God from Judah (1 Kings 13:2), and confirmed by the old prophet from Bethel (vv. 31), was fulfilled.
12. The puzzling character of the story has exercised scholars for many years.
I. The Message of the Man of God
A. It was perhaps the strangest thing anyone had ever seen!
B. Standing on the roadway just outside the village was a donkey, and a lion keeping vigil over the body of a dead prophet!
C. Many lessons may be learned from this intriguing story.
II. A Lesson About the Testing of One's Faith: James 1:2-4
  A. James 1:12-14 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been
           approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those
           who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by
           God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
         "Each one  is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lusts and enticed."15
          Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full
           grown, brings forth death.
     1. Matthew 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For
        Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
     2.  Matthew 26:41  "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is
          willing, but the flesh is weak."
     3. Living the Christian life is not a bed of ease or a life of idleness.
        a.   It requires much toil and labor.
        b.   It will be a constant fight with temptation.
    4. Like dangling the carrot before the horse to get him to go our way, Satan constantly
       dangles temptations before our eyes.
III.   A Lesson About the Persistence of Satan: 1 Peter 5:8; Genesis 4:7
A. Satan just waited and got him on the way home!
B. In the Bible, the adversary of God and His children is Satan.
1. Let us ever heed the words of 1Peter 3:15, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."
III. A Lesson About the Dangers of False Statements: 2Peter 2:1; Proverbs 14:1
  A. Definitions.
     1.  False = that which is not true; something that is a lie.
     2.  Doctrine = teaching;
     3.  False doctrine is, then, a body of information, which people believe and then use as
          a basis for their relationship with God that is untrue.
    4.  If the doctrine is untrue, then it cannot actually produce what it claims, and leaves
         the one believing it in a dangerous position
  B.  The Bible has many warnings about the dangers of false teachers who dispense false
        doctrine or teaching.
    1.  Matt 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but
          inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
    2.  Matt 7:21-23  "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom
         of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to
         Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons
          in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare
          to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
    3.  Acts 20:28-30  "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among
          which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God
          which He purchased with His own blood. 29 "For I know this, that after my
           departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 "Also
           from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away
           the disciples after themselves.
    4.  2 Tim 4:3-4  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but
          according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up
          for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be
          turned aside to fables.
    5.  1 Tim 4:1-3  Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from
          the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies
           in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to
           marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received
           with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
    6.  1 Tim 6:3-5  If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words,
          even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with
          godliness, 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and
           arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,
          5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who
           suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
  C.  The Bible is our source book of truth.
    1.  2 Tim 3:16-17  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
          doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the
          man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
    2.  2 Pet 1:3  as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
          godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
  D.  Let us determine that we will focus on the teaching of Scripture and nothing more,
        that we may believe and practice only the truth of God.
IV. A Lesson About the fact that God Means What He Says:
  A.  He certainly meant it in the case of the man of God.
1. We learn many lessons about God's attention to detail in the O.T.
a) Genesis 3:1-2 - Don't eat the fruit or you will die. They found out the hard way that He meant what He said.
b) Repent or perish - In Noah's day they perished.
c) Lot's wife - Don't look back, did He mean what He said?
d) Go take the land that I have given you. We can't!
e) Don't touch the ark, Uzzah and Ahio
f) Many others.
2. How sure are we that God is still serious about the details.
3. He still means what He says.
ABOUT THE CHURCH:
A. Matthew 16:18 - Upon this rock I will build My church.
B. The church belongs to Jesus.
C. He dictates through His word what goes on here.
D. He bought it with His blood, this trumps anything any of us could do for the church.
E. No man owns the church and no one man rules in the New Testament church.
1) He is the Son of the Father and the rightful heir (Matthew 2:18).
2) He has the lineage and the clout necessary to own the church (Matthew 16:16).
3) He loves the church and would never do anything to hurt or destroy it.
4) He died for it.
5) The church is not a physical building (Acts 17:24). It is not bricks and mortar. It is not something owned and controlled by people.
6) No one has as much invested in the church as Jesus.
7) No one has the right to claim ownership of the church, except Jesus.
ABOUT HOW TO BE SAVED & BECOME A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH:
A. HBRCB
B. What if I know that I have not been baptized or baptized properly, but I just go on and decide I am going to be Christian anyway.
C. I am not qualified to be a Christian, because I  don't meet the qualifications set forth by God in His Bible, will He save me anyway?
ABOUT HOW GOD IS TO BE WORSHIPPED: Spirit and truth, giving, singing, praying, L.S.; preaching.
ABOUT HOW CHRISTIANS ARE TO BEHAVE: Blameless, upright, above reproach, humble, morally upright etc.
ABOUT CHURCH GOVERNMENT: 1 Timothy 3:14-15
CONCLUSION:
1. From the disobedience of the man of God we learn many valuable lessons.
2. The emphasis we give on Bible study is not in vain.
3. God gives us instructions for a reason.
4. He knows best.
5. Galatians 1:6-10 "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. "