FW: LESSONS FROM AN OLD PROPHET
Posted by: preacher30673 <preacher30673@...>
LESSONS FROM AN OLD PROPHET
I Kings 13:1-32
May I begin by saying that I know perfectly well that age has its privilege. There are some things that age has that youth can never have. There is the wealth of experience that age alone can enjoy.
However, while age has its privileges; age also has its perils: and it is to these that I want to turn your thought.
Years ago I heard a Christian say, "Few Christians end well." I want to end well. I want to finish well. I do not want to end up as an old crabby, critical old man. I want to finish with a right attitude.
As I get older I am beginning now to think of some of the perils that the passing of the years can bring.
Let us turn, then, and look into the mirror of God's Word and see ourselves the perils of age.
So let us look at this old prophet who dwelt in Bethel. And first I want to note with you what I call-
I. THE APATHY THAT STAMPED His SERVICE
Here was a man who had spiritually very nearly come to a standstill. He was not doing much spiritually.
A. Note the inaction into which he had settled
Bethel, where he lived, was the scene of Jeroboam's sin-the setting up of false religion that was, served by false priests. The details are found in the closing verses of the previous chapter.
The action of the king was to become proverbial and legendary in the history of Israel: for Jeroboam was the king "who made Israel to sin." The motive of Jeroboam's sin was political expediency; the action, one of spiritual apostasy.
In the face of this challenge, the old prophet was silent. He had nothing to say, and said nothing. Why was this?
Why had this apathy settled down across his service for God? Was it because of weariness?
Had he fought through many battles in the past, and now he just could not rouse himself for yet another battle?
Whatever the reasons, the silence remained unbroken, the message unspoken, and the servant of God remained at home.
B. Note the intrusion by which he was startled
The apathy which was upon the life of this old prophet was suddenly, rudely startled; the silence which he had been careful to maintain was suddenly, sharply broken. His sons rushed in to tell him of the dramatic event: that the king himself had been officiating at the high place that very day, and the man of God, a young man of Judah, had dramatically interrupted the service.
The curse of God had been pronounced against the altar; and the king, violently angry, had caused the instant arrest of the man of God-and he had been struck immediately by the hand of God in judgment. Then a frightened king had pleaded for mercy, before a rent altar, amid the smoke of the scattered ashes.
A cringing and conciliatory monarch had offered hospitality and rewards-to find his offer treated with contempt. What had been the words of the man of God from Judah, to 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." The long silence had been broken, and like a sudden peal of thunder out of the sky, the voice of God had spoken; and with glowing faces the sons of the old prophet ended their breathless story, while the old man watched and listened.
"Where did that man of God go?" The intrusion by which he was startled.
I. THE APATHY THAT STAMPED His SERVICE
II. THE ANIMOSITY THAT SEARED His SPIRIT
Here we face the tragic fact that the man who took no action at all against the deeds of Jeroboam, became passionately and angrily active against the man of God.
How often do you see this when a man or a woman is being used of God or is actively involved in the Lord's service? Instead of being excited and thrilled for them we become hostile towards them.
One of the things that appalls me, that upsets me, is just this very thing: the ceaseless animosity of Christian against Christian. You find it in churches, you find it in fellowships, you find it on mission stations, you find it in societies, you find it wherever you find Christians: and the tragedy is that those involved are very, very seldom youngsters in the faith.
You find it among the older Christians; you find it in the "old prophet."
This is where you find it: the animosity that sears the spirit.
Why was this old prophet roused to action-not against the false worship of Jeroboam: he did not do a thing about that. Why was he roused to action against the faithful servant of Jehovah?
I think, first of all, because of a
A. A pride that would not be humbled.
The man's pride was hurt to the quick. The man who remained unmoved when God's name was dishonored, was stung to the quick when his own actions were condemned.
The message he had ceased to declare had been declared by another.
Everything he knew he should have been and had failed to be, the man of God from Judah had been.
And as his own sons told the story of it all, they told the story of his own condemnation; and his pride hated it.
Have you got a pride that will not be humbled? He had been silent, instead of protesting against the impiety of Jeroboam, and now felt rebuked by this daring stranger.
His pride had been wounded, all the hate and all the hurt that was brewing was found in
B. A purpose that would not be halted
He had to find the man, and somehow bring him down; to bring him down to his own level, and to make him swallow those words of contempt, "Neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place," making himself out to be better than the old prophet-for he had been eating bread and drinking water there for these years and months past.
So the purpose was formulated and pursued until he found the man of God. The animosity that seared his spirit.
Tell me, are you more active against the people of God than against the enemies of God? Are you? Is it possible? Do you talk more, do you think more, do you plan more, against the servants of God, than His enemies? Do you?
If so, I'll tell you why. Because the life of somebody has condemned you- maybe not verbally, but implicitly.
I. THE APATHY THAT STAMPED His SERVICE
II. THE ANIMOSITY THAT SEARED His SPIRIT
III. THE ATROCITY THAT sealed His Success.
The old prophet succeeded. He succeeded in bringing down the man of God. You too can succeed in destroying others.
To do it, you may use the
A. Weapon that he selected
He used his tongue. With a blend of friendliness, a touch of authority, a suggestion of divine guidance, and with his tongue the old prophet he lied. And as he spoke, he knew he lied. It was his tongue, not the lion's paw that really slew the unnamed prophet. How much damage is done by the tongue!
Your tongue-one of the most powerful and deadly things we possess. That is why it is one of the touchstones of Christian maturity: "if any man offend not in word (in tongue), the same is a perfect man."
The old prophet lied (18). A lie is the weapon the devil used when he said to our first parents, "Ye shall not surely die!"
BEWARE OF THE DEVIL OF HOSPITALITY.
When his appeal to appetite fails (15), the old prophet professes his oneness with him and uses falsehood . To eat bread in Bethel with a prophet did not seem quite the same thing as eating with the idolatrous king. And then there is a Scripture for every compromise. An angel spoke to me and told me it was ok for you come to my house and eat bread.
Notice verses 20-22. Those who lead you into sin are the first to tax you with it afterward.
B. WRECKAgE THAT HE SAW
What the wicked king could not do, the old prophet succeeded in. Evil is never wanting in emissaries. It finds them among the so-called followers of God as well as in the world.
He brought the young man to the path of disobedience. He brought him into the path of danger. He brought him to the place of death.
Suddenly, a leap from the lion, a moment of agony, and a life of usefulness was over. The atrocity that crowned his success.
He did succeed. And one of the supreme tragedies of age is that when we succeed, we often hurt someone else for life.
Conclusion
Come, contemplate now for just one moment as we close, by the wreckage of the life that was destroyed. Can you see the face, as the old prophet looked on the face of the man of God on the road that day? Here was a life he had destroyed.
Notice now the tears that flowed. However, it is too late now. The damage has been done. The life has been destroyed?
Contemplate the circle the lives that you are touching daily? Are they going to be better or worse for coming in contact with you?
IN HIS ETERNAL GRIP,
Pastor Jimmy Chapman
Victory Baptist Church
706-678-1855
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