June 4, 2021

 

1 Kings 13:11-19

 

The Prophet's Disobedience

Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.   And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.   And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So, they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.   And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”   Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”   And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’”   And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.   So, he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

 

A powerful message to each of us in this, a man of God sent on a mission from God, believes a lie, and turns from truth to obey a man who deceives him into believing a lie.

 

We have been warned to watch out for false teachers, and preachers, but many who do not study God’s word, have no understanding of this.  Many of them who go by the name of Christian and even some in leadership can tell you all about some person in Hollywood, who is the latest person who has a hit song.  They know all about a sports team, or they keep up with golf and all the main player but do not have time to sit in a quiet room and ask God to show them his truth. 

 

Are you so content with this life, a government where leaders tell you lies, and how we find out that so do many of its leading scientists have lied to us?  But they are not the ones to be on guard against, it is the man who stands behind the podium on Sunday, with his Bible, and yet like the old prophet tells you lies.  

 

Do the Scriptures warn us about such men?  Yes, in both the Old and New Testaments, we need to put to heart Acts 17:11 and make sure we applied it to each sermon we heard.  “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

 

It is my belief that 2 Timothy 4:3, is happening now, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”  Look at 2 Peter 2:1-3, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.   And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed.   And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.”

 

It is 2021, and if you cannot see that this verse is referring to now, you sure live in a different world than I do; 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.   For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice