Warning to the young prophet

1 kings 13:1-34

Introduction:

Begin by imploring the members that this is a hard sermon to preach

Give context of this text dating back to Jeroboam and Rehoboam

Context: (Rehoboam vs Jeroboam) How did we get here?

Solomon was a king after David

Once His Heart turned from God and worshipped other gods, the Lord was angry at Him (Ahstoreth goddess of Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the moabites, Milcom god of the people of ammon)

God told the prophet Ahijah to tell Jeroboam by way of illustration that the Lord would take the ten tribes away from Solomon. (Told Jeroboam to take ten pieces of the garment he had on Him)

God tells Jeroboam that He won’t take the whole kingdom away, because He made him ruler all the days of His life because of his father David

When Solomon gets word of this, He tries to kill Jeroboam, so Jeroboam flees to Egypt where he remains until Solomon’s death.

On the day of Rehoboam’s coronation the assembly of Israel led yby Jeroboam came to speak to Rehoboam. They told Him (Paraphrase) Your pops made our yoke heavy, now lighten our burden and we’ll serve you. Explain how Rehoboam’s decision was stupid.

He kicks out the wise elders and listens to the friend’s he grew up with told Him to tell those people whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you I will add to your yoke, my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with Scourges This was a punishment inflicted by the Romans. The culprit was stripped and stretched by cords or thongs on a frame, and beaten with a whip or a rod. From about B.C. 300 Roman citizens were exempt from scourging.

Then Rehoboam sent over Adoram who was the head of forced labor, most likely to put the people to work, they kill Him, then He flees from Israel to Jerusalem in Judah

Then Rehoboam tries to get the people from the army, about 180,000 Benjamites to go fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the Kingdom to himself, until God tells Shemaiah to tell the King to not allow the people to go fight their brother the Children of Israel.

The narrative then flips and now tells us about the heart of Jeroboam. (Insecurity)

Jeroboam irrationally believes that the people of Israel will turn back to the house of David, turn their back on Him, so he decides what I’m going to do is essentially cut them off from going to Jerusalem to offer up sacrifices. He makes two calves of gold, and says to the people, it’s too much for you to go up to Jerusalem, here are your gods, who brought you out of the land of egypt. The bible says He puts one in Bethel, the southernmost of israel, and He puts one in Dan the northern most of Israel.

Now watch how wickedly evil and smart the king is; the king says okay, for those who are coming from let’s say samaria to go to Jerusalem, they may get winded along the way, that instead of going another 10-12 miles, they’ll settle for Bethel and stay there to worship.

Diving into the text:

The bible tells us that most likely the feast was going on that Jeroboam instituted, and there was a man of God who went from Judah (Southern Kingdom) to Bethel (The southern most of the northern kingdom) this young prophet stood by the altar and declared that this same altar that the children of Israel and its leader sinned on would be the same Altar that men’s bones and false priests of high places would be burned on, and as a sign from God the altar would split and ashes would fall over the top of it. (Expound on this point how the word of God is not a fable, it’s unfailing, it’s true and whatever it says will come to pass will come to pass, and how it’s the enemies’ trap that you don’t believe everything that’s written in the word)

The King then stretches out his hand to arrest Him, but His hand froze in Air became withered so that He could not move it, then the Bible says that He the evil king had to be prayed for to get his hand restored. (Explain that it is ultimately God who is all powerful, all mighty, all in control)

Then the Bible tells us, listen to the prophet’s words, the king tries to then invite him to his home but he says the Lord commanded him saying “Don’t eat bread nor drink water, nor return the way that you came.” (Explain that eating meant fellowship, God didn’t want him to be a hypocrite)

The word of God then tells us about an Old prophet (Spend some time here) who lived in Bethel, who was looking for this younger prophet, after he heard what had transpired at this place. The bible then tells us that the Older prophet found Him sitting under an oak tree (Pause here and mention that we need to be very careful specifically young people where we decide to rest. Not just speaking about sex, but where we decide to unwind and be ourselves at)

asked Him to come with Him to eat food and watch the response of the young prophet, he reiterates what the Lord told Him. (Stay here and build on this) Now watch the response of the older prophet. Read it aloud with the congregation

Isn’t it funny how wax eloquent people are when their lying (Explain why it was easy for the young prophet to be deceived)

After reading it explain my frustration

Body: (Now let me tell you why this text angers me)

Let me first start by saying this message is really a conversation with our youth and young adults

Not everybody who is an elder or leader in the church is an honest person. This is where I get upset in the text (Joke around that i didn’t bring my ipad so I’m in the word)

Build on this part right here, about leaders and elders in the church who are dishonest (and how this is a spirit and heart issue)

Our text let’s us know that it’s possible for somebody in a prominent position to lie to get what they want

The prophet lied to Him, to get what he wanted (expound on this)

Then the bible says that the word of the Lord, comes to the lying prophet, and he begins crying out in the middle of their fellowship telling Him because he disobeyed God’s word, he will not rest with his fathers. In other words he won’t die a respectable death.

Body: Warning to the young prophet

The reason why God was upset with Him was because He believed that because of another person’s position, title, and experience, he had certain access to God that he didn’t. 1

The young man didn’t use common sense(Holy Spirit) to tell Him that this was not going to end well for Him.

Conclusion:

Ask the young people to participate by raising their hand if they’ve ever had an elder or leader kill their dream with the “God told me to tell you rhetoric” then offer up a prayer for them.