 All right, we're there in 1 Kings chapter number 17 and here in 1 Kings chapter number 17 We have a very interesting character that's being introduced to us for the first time in the Bible and this man is Elijah the tishbite Elijah the tishbite who's a great prophet who did a great many things for God in his life and We see here. Let's start reading in verse number one first King 17 Verse number one we'll see what the Bible has to say about this man named Elijah verse one first King 17 Says and Elijah the tishbite who was of the inhabitants of Gilead said unto Ahab as the Lord The as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be due Nor rain these years but according to my word and the word of the Lord came unto him saying get the Hence and turn the eastward and hide thyself by the brook chariot that is before Jordan so one thing you'll notice about Elijah in the Bible that I think is very interesting about him is Obviously every prophet in the Bible and every man of God is it's really his job to tell people when they're wrong That's what the man of God supposed to do That's what his job is and that's that's what every man of God does but one thing that's distinct about Elijah is that he he's sort of a he sort of is Infamous or famous for just stopping people outright in their plans And we're going to look at that this evening But where you'll have a king or you'll have people that are about to carry out a plan that are about to think They're about to get away with their plans and Elijah sort of stops them in their tracks and says not so fast That's kind of one thing that's interesting about Elijah That he does so this evening the title of the sermon is called when the man of God Cancels your plans when the man of God cancels your plans And I just want to look at different responses people had when Elijah did this when he would stop people and say hey This is wrong. This is not what you should be doing God wants you to do this and said how do people react? How do people react? How do or how are we not supposed to react and what's the proper response? So go ahead and turn to first Kings 16. We'll go ahead and get a little bit of context of this story First Kings chapter 16 to see what we can learn from Elijah this evening because this is something that Applies to all of us all of us have you know men of God in our lives They're there to instruct us that are there to we all have some sort of spiritual leader in our lives That's there to guide us and to To help us the Bible tells us that he gave us Gave us teachers and pastors and things like this. So let's get the context of this story here So the first thing this evening that we can learn from Elijah is when the man of God cancels your plans Don't ignore him. Don't ignore him. You're there in first Kings 16. Let's start reading verse 29 First Kings 16 29 says and in the 30 and 8th year of Asa king of Judah began a have Here's another man being introduced to us began a have the son of Omri to reign over Israel and they have the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria 20 and 2 years and they have the son of Omri did evil in the side of the Lord above all that were before him and They came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat That he took his wife Jezebel the daughter of Abel king of the Zidonians and went and served Baal in Worshiped him and he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal Which he had built in Samaria and a have made a grove and a have don't miss this did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger that all the kings of Israel that were before him So here it mentions that he have he was not if you look at the entire history of Israel He was not the worst king, but up to this point There was no king that was as evil as he had been at this point in time He was very evilly. He rebelled against the Lord did a lot of things That provoked the Lord God to anger it says so what does God do? So God chooses a prophet to announce his judgment to cancel a habs plans He chooses this man Elijah the tish bite and he say and that's of course what we're reading in in first Kings 17 He said did a have listen? No, you don't have to turn there But fast forward three years later the Bible tells us in first Kings 18 13 Was it not told my Lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord and how I hit a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by 15 a cave and fed them with bread and water so here three years later He's still him and his wife are still persecuting the prophets. They're still killing prophets They're still doing evil things. They have didn't listen. He ignored he ignored the prophet He ignored Elijah and what he said in first Kings 17 turn to Deuteronomy 17 Deuteronomy chapter 17 So again the first lesson when the man God shows up and cancels our plans and tells us what the Bible says And tells us we're wrong We should not ignore him. We should not ignore that advice This isn't this is obviously a huge theme in the Bible because individuals and nations do this all the time with God This is something that's very common. So let's see how serious how serious this is this is to God You're there in Deuteronomy 17 look at verse 6 This is God laying out the laws for his nation the rules for his nation how he wants them to deal with civil disputes things like this Verse 6 it says at the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses Shall he that is worthy of death be put to death but in the mouth of one witness He shall not be put to death the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death and Afterward the hands of all the people so shall thought put away evil from among you So again, he's just telling them how to deal with crime Accusations civil disputes how to how to deal with these things in this case He's saying when someone's accused of of something that would they would be be put to death for you Can't just have one person accused of that you can't just have one person say hey I saw him murder somebody or I saw him do this it has to be at least two or three witnesses Verse 8 notice what he says here. He says if there arise a matter too hard for the judgment He says if you can't figure it out on your own between blood and blood between plea and plea Between stroke and stroke being matters of controversy within thy gates Then shalt thou arise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose And thou shalt come in come unto the priests the Levites under the judge that shall be in those days and the choir and They shall show thee the sentence of judgment and thou shalt do according to the sentence Which they have that place of the Lord shall choose shall show thee and now shall observe to do according to all They inform me so he's saying I if you can't figure it out if it's too difficult I want you to go to the Levites and they will tell you What to do and he takes it very seriously verse 11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgment judgment which they shall tell thee Thou shalt do thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right hand nor to the left So God is is laying out that he has specifically picked the Levites in this case To tell them if there's a if there's a controversy that's too difficult that they can't figure out God says go to the Levites You say why the Levites? Well, then they were the ones who knew God's law They were the ones that knew how God wanted things done and God and they were the ones who were appointed by God for this exact purpose And he takes it very seriously says in the man that will do presumptuously and will not harken Unto the priest that stands to minister before the Lord thy God or unto the judge even that man shall die and Thou shall put away evil from Israel and this is nothing new God is always God does things differently of course and Old Testament New Testament But God is always appointed and used men for this purpose to tell people his laws to teach people his laws to deal with their disputes and To make judgment calls. That's something that God has always it's a it's a structure God has always had in one form or another and God wants us to listen to them God God wants us to use that tool we have and you say well Why is this so serious? I mean in this case they were literally put to death if they didn't listen This is obviously civil disputes, but why so serious? The reason I believe is because there is there's some extreme dangers of God's people Ignoring the man of God whether it's a prophet or a pastor in the New Testament There are dangers to that turn to 2nd Chronicles 25 2nd Chronicles 25, you know the turn there, but Proverbs 1510 says Correction is grievous unto him that forsake at the way and he that hate of reproof shall die So it's saying if you're someone who can't be corrected and you can't stand or proof You you are going to you're going to die You're going to suffer consequences of your sin if you don't take correction And then of course just the obvious fact that if you're forsaking the way Someone's not doing what the Bible says correction will be grievous unto them they're in 2nd Chronicles 25 and Here we have a story of a man named Amaziah and Amaziah so far had just won a great victory God God gave he stepped out on faith and God gave him this great victory over his enemies and Here look what he does as he wins this battle as he as he wins this victory that God gave him 2nd Chronicles 25 14 now came to pass After that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, so he just God just gave him this victory It says that he brought the gods of the children of Seer and set them up to be his gods and bowed down himself before them and burned incense unto them Wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah and he sent unto him a prophet notice what the prophet says Which said unto him why has thou sought after the gods of the people which could not deliver their own people? Out of thine hand saying what are you doing Amaziah these gods these false gods? They weren't able to deliver their people now Why are you going to them and this isn't what the sermons about this evening? But this is very true right a lot of times Christians will run to worldly things That don't even profit the people in the world if you know you see people running to Things of the world like the worldly music or the worldly influences or worldly friends or they do things the world does worldly Worldly entertainment and you'll see Christians adopt these things that couldn't deliver the people of the world from them It didn't benefit the people in the world yet Christians are running to those same things Just kind of interesting and it came to pass as he talks with them Notice what amaziah says that the king said unto him art thou made of the king's counsel for bear Why should us now be smitten? He's saying I didn't you're not my counsel This isn't your job to tell me what to do. I don't want to hear it then the prophet for baron said again Just notice the strong language. I know that God had determined to destroy thee Why because that was done this and has not harkened? unto my counsel The word determined means decided or resolved and this prophet is telling him as I had he's saying you know what? Amaziah God has resolved God has decided to destroy you because you didn't listen to the the counsel of the prophet That's a serious thing He says so why do people do it right? Why do we do it when we're corrected by the man of God? Why is it? What causes us to not to not regard it or not think that it's what we should do? I think the Bible points to that. It's two main things. It's arrogance and it's unthankfulness Are the two main things you don't the turn there, but Nehemiah in 916 says but they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened to their necks and harkened not to that commandments and Refused to obey neither were they mindful of the wonders that thou didst among them But are hardened their necks and in the rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage But that were to God ready to pardon gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and forsookest them not so here Nehemiah is praying to God and he's looking back on Israel's history and he's saying they harden their necks They didn't harken because one they weren't mindful of the things God did for them and two they were just lifted up with Prime are the two reasons that he gives there they're prideful and unthankful turn to first Kings 12 First Kings 12 You don't the turn there, but while you're going to first Kings Proverbs 19 20 says hear counsel and receive Instruction that thou mayst be wise in thy latter end There are many devices in a man's heart Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand you say why do I need you see I'm saved I have the Holy Spirit And I have the Bible why do I need a man of God? Why can't I just sit down the Holy Spirit in the Bible and that's all I need Well, obviously as believers we have the ability to read the Bible and to learn things from the Bible Of course, but the reason that we need and the reason that God's people has I've always had some sort of Man of God to know his laws and to to to be there to advise them is because One thing that we're good at his people one thing we think we're good at his people is we're very good at Justifying our decisions justifying or spiritualizing our decisions So we'll sit there and we'll read the Bible and what we will do is we will we'll want something We'll have our mind made out that this is what I want This is what I'm going to do and we can curve the Bible in our own minds to match what we want We can sit there and we can stuff the Bible we can it's like taking a puzzle piece that it's in the wrong spot and Forcing it in you can do it you can put it where it doesn't belong But it's not going to work out for you and this is what we do is people so because of that because We're sinners and see the Bible is perfect, but we're not right the Bible is perfect but us we can use our own our own deceitful heart and and And twist it for our own benefit right that people do it with false doctrine all the time So what we need is people is we need an Guess here's the thing you'll tell yourself what you want to hear your friends may tell you what you want to hear So we need an unbiased third party who knows the laws of God and is looking at the situation from the outside in To advise us that's what we need because if not, we're very good. It's just trying to force our own way You know on God's spiritualized our decisions or justify our decisions That's why we need a pastor. That's why we need a man to God in our lives You're there in first Kings 12 the Bible says this this is talking about the son of Solomon Rehoboam says in verse 1 and Rehoboam went to Shechem Oh Israel will come to Shechem to make him king skip down to verse 3 We'll just kind of try to skip through this verse 3 and they sent and called him in Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came And spake unto Rehoboam saying thy father talking about Solomon made our yoke grievous Now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father in his heavy yolk Which he put on us lighter and we will serve thee and he said unto them Depart yet for three days and then come again to me and the people departed so Rehoboam Solomon's son is about to be Kinged here. He's about to become the new king and the people make a request to him They say hey your father taxed us a lot. He made our work grievous He he was very hard on us. If you make it lighter. We'll serve you We'll respect you and we will serve you and Rehoboam says okay come back in three days. I'll think about it is basically what he tells them verse 6 and King Rehoboam consulted with the old man that stood before Solomon his father well He yet lived and said how do you advise that I may answer this people so so far so good He's going think about these men. He's going to the men that were advisors to the wisest man who ever lived Which is interesting to note that the wisest man who ever lived was smart enough to know that even he needed advisors So he goes to these men and verse 7 it says and they spake unto him saying and this is very good advice that they give him If thou will be a servant unto this people this day and we'll serve them and answer them and speak good words to them Then they will be thy servants forever. So they're giving very good advice here They're saying hey you treat them. Well, they will treat you well Versa, but he pursued the council the old man which they had given him and consulted with the young man That we're growing up with him and which stood before him. So instead he goes with his friends advice Skipped on to verse 12 which of course they just tell Rehoboam what he wants to hear Their buddies the king and they just tell him what they know he is looking to hear verse 12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day as the king had appointed Saying come again to me the third day and the king answered the people roughly So this is why he's doing what his friends told him to do and first soaked the old man's council Which they gave him and speak to them after the council the young men saying my father made your yoke heavy I will add to your yoke. My father also chastised you with whips and how will chastise you with Scorpions and we're not going to read the rest, but of course, this is the people the people they're like That's not what we wanted. Of course the people this is how the nation splits This is how the king split into two different kingdoms because he didn't follow the advice For him in his lifetime. So just the lesson here when the man of God Cancels our plans and stops maybe our ambition or what we were planning on doing We ought to we are not to ignore that we ought to listen to that and take heed to that for our own benefit Proverbs 28 9 just says this you don't the turn there He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law even his prayer shall be abomination I'm not even going to hear your prayer if you don't listen to to the law that I've given God says I've given you people to teach you the law. So if you're going to ignore them, I'm not going to hear I'm not going to hear your prayer. It's a very serious thing. You got is it's a tool God has given us that we definitely should use in our lives Turn to first Kings 18 First Kings 18, so we're going to look at these three things this evening and we know that well You'll notice that they kind of get worse right the first thing is when that we just looked at when the man of God Cancels your plans don't ignore him. Well, here's what some people do some people will ignore and Here's what they do next the second this evening is this go back to first Kings 18, of course When the man of God cancels your plans don't blame him. Don't blame him first Kings 18 Let's fast forward three years again the lands in a famine because of the sins of Ahab Whose fault is it? It's a habs a have sinned and because of a have sinned God said I'm sending a famine on the land And they have noses Elijah told him that so he a have is well aware of this. So three years later Ahab is still unrepentant Verse one and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying go Show thyself unto a have and I will send rain upon the earth And Elijah went to show himself unto a have and there was a sore famine in Samaria And they have so now we're gonna now we're looking from a have's perspective here. So here we see a have Cooking up another plan here There's another plan of how he's gonna try to fix his sin without getting right So an a have called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house Now a Obadiah feared the Lord greatly for it was so when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah took in hundred prophets and hid them by 15 a cave and fed them with bread and water And they have said unto Obadiah go in the land unto all the fountains of water into all the Brooks per adventure We may find grass to save the horses and mules alive that we will lose all the beasts So is he gonna get right nope instead? He's going to try to fix it his own way He tells this guy who works for him. He's like, okay, here's the plan We're gonna try to find some water grass so the animals don't die He basically tells him you go this way and look for water I'll go this way verse six so they divided the land between them to pass throughout it a have went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself and His Obadiah was in the way hold Elijah met him and he knew him and Fell on his face and said art thou that my Lord Elijah and he answered him I am notice when he tells this man Obadiah go tell thy Lord behold Elijah is here. He says go back to a hab who's trying to carry out this plan And I want you to tell him Elijah is here again just canceling there to cancel the plan skipped to verse 16 So Obadiah went to meet a have and told him and they have went to meet Elijah And it came to pass when a have saw Elijah Now what would you do if God if God had told you you had got it warned you and said hey Say a man of God or someone had told you in your life. Hey if you do this your life is going to get worse It's going to be terrible for you guy God's gonna punish you if you go down this road Say you ignored it You did it anyway and say you've just been through three years of just punishment from God You're suffering under the punishment of God and you see this prophet again. What would you tell him? You'd probably be a lot humble. You probably tell him you probably be much more humble than say I'm sorry and I'm gonna I'm gonna get right What does it have say and they have said unto him art thou he that trouble with Israel? Say really? Really he's been going the whole nations in this turmoil in this horrible time People are starving because they have decision and here he sees the man of God for the first time in three years And he says it's your fault It's your fault that this is happening. You're the one who's troubling Israel. How is this Elijah's fault? This is what people do. This is what people do when they're in sin, and they don't want to admit You see a lot of people they may ignore the man of God But then things get worse for them they get off that train they get off the train at that point Some people stay on the train some people stay in the train and they get to the point where they start blaming other people They don't want to deal with it themselves and admit fault so they blame other people first 18 and he answered I'm not troubled Israel but thou and thy father's house and that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and that thou has followed Bail him bail him so again when the man of God cancels your plans. Don't just not ignore him But don't blame him either don't blame him for your problems turn to Psalm 32 And this isn't even about the man of God And it's obviously it is but it's also just about other people people like to to blame anybody else It's like when you're suffering the consequences of your sin It's like having a this giant box you're trying to carry and people just want to throw that box into somebody else You're carrying it. It's your thing you created the problem for yourself But people just want to throw it on the man of God or throw it in their friend Throw it on those or anyone that can blame anyone who can take that burden off of them Look another major theme in the Bible is look we need to acknowledge our own sin When we mess up and we make mistakes which we all will We need to acknowledge our sins as quickly as possible You're there in Psalm 32 look at verse 2 Psalm 32 2 Blessed is he who's transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man into whom the Lord imputed not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile When I kept silence my bones waxed old through the roaring almighty old the day alone So they hear the author is saying talking about when it's difficult for him Because of a mistake he made Verse 4 day and night thy hand. He's talking to God was heavy upon me. My moisture has turned into the drought of summer Verse 5 so what did he do about it? I? Acknowledged my sin under thee in my equity. Have I not hid I? Said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin And then that kind of goes back to verse 1 where he starts off saying You know it's a great thing to have your sins for it's a great thing to acknowledge your sin and to have it dealt with and So that that's what he that's what the what he's illustrating that we should do here So God wants to forgive you obviously as believers well forgiven in the sense that we'll never go to hell for our sin But just in our lives God wants to forgive you of your sin and move on God's not that doesn't punish you just to punish you God punishes you is he that's the whole point of chastisement That's the whole point in the famines is if God's punishing us so that we can correct ourselves and and move on We don't have to deal with anymore. We can go back to serving him and doing great things. That's the whole point Turn to the first Samuel 15 first Samuel 15 Here's another example of someone who blamed other people and dealt with some pretty serious consequences because of it First Samuel 15 look at verse 19 here. This is talking about Saul Saul was told To go kill the Amalekites to wipe them out. He's God said don't keep any anything alive. Nothing that breathes I want you to kill everything and every one And Saul didn't do that Saul kept the best of the of the animals He didn't kill the king and here Samuel the prophet is rebuking Saul for this He says in verse 19 Wherefore then did sound not obey the voice of the Lord but did fly upon the spoil and it's evil in the side of the Lord and Saul said unto Samuel Yay, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and they've gone the way it was the Lord sent me and brought a gag king of Amalek And have utterly destroyed the Amalekites, but the people took a royal and Sheep and oxen the chief of the things Which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God and gilgall so he confront Saul and says Saul That's not what God told you to do. You were supposed to kill the animals You were supposed to kill a gag and you're Saul blames it on the people He blames no other people. He says no, it wasn't me. They did it which is interesting because even if I don't know But let's say they did let's say it was the people that just didn't listen to what and didn't anyway Saul's the leader so he's still bore the responsibility for what happened there Saul Saul was the one who was commissioned by God to take care of it if it didn't go If it didn't go the way God wanted that's on him not the people Verse 26 and Samuel said unto Saul I will not return with thee for that was rejected the Lord of the Lord and Notice the consequence here and the Lord have to rejected thee from being king over Israel So notice here of course Saul saved so he's not saying God's rejected you or your soul or you know your salvation He's saying God has rejected thee from being king. God's God basically permanently removed him from the position He previously gave him turn to Exodus 32 I mean that's a pretty serious consequence It's interesting because Saul will go on in his life to do way worse things Saul will go on in his life You'll read to commit murder to to commit to do much more evil things than he did here But when the Bible talks and as the Bible goes on and tells Saul's story and it explains why he was rejected from being king It was it's still this story that was being referenced Which is interesting is even in when you read the kings and chronicles God's always very consistent like that if you have a king that does a bunch of evil It's always one specific thing that God said this is why I killed him. This is why This is why he died he died for this decision or or whatever. It's always very consistent like that You know the term there, but Hosea 14 1 You should be in Exodus 32 but Hosea the kind of the theme of Hosea 13 and 14 is is God is Reiterating Israel must have been blaming other people for their sin because in Hosea the theme is that God is is is kind of rebuking them For blaming other people and he's he's reiterating. No Israel It's because of your fault. It's your sin that you that got you into this mess Hosea 14 1 and 2 says oh Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou has fallen by thine Iniquity, it's your fault. It's your sin Verse 2 take with you words and turn to the Lord and say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously So will be rendered the calves of a lip. So God saying here's what I want you to do I want you just to admit that it's your iniquity that caused this your sin and I want you to ask for forgiveness ask me to take away your sin and We can go forward from there that's what God wants from us and it's a whether it's a nation whether it's a believer whether it's a lost soul It's a major thing in the Bible that the first step To getting right is acknowledging your sin think right even with when we go soul-winning, right? What's the first thing that people often understand? What's the first thing that we cannot move on until they get they have to acknowledge their sin and the Punishment that they deserve for it We can't move on it if we go and we tell someone hey Do you believe your sinner and do you believe you deserve hell and if they if they refuse to believe that they can't get saved They we can't move on from there. The first step of even salvation is admitting The is acknowledging where your sin has got you And it's the same theme with with anybody else X is 32 this is almost a this is almost a humorous story here Hexas 32 where Moses goes up to receive the first copy on Mount Sinai of the Ten Commandments And of course the people built the golden calf and Aaron Aaron Moses's brother was the one who actually carried this out He's the one who forged it. He's the one who made it and Moses comes down from the mountain and he sees this and he's infuriated This is when he cast the the copies down and he breaks them and look oh look what Moses does here X is 32 20 and he took the calf which they had made think about how long this took Moses Think about how it was only one verse, but I'm sure this took him a lot of time X is 20 and he took the calf X is 32 20 He took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and grounded to powder and Straded upon the water and made the children of Israel drink it So he takes it. He melts it back down He burry chops it up and he beats it into small pieces. He grinds it into powder Into powder. He's he's he dumps it in the water and he makes the people of Israel drink the water of scattered Scattered with the gold that they had made this idol out of pretty pretty intense and then the blame game starts So now now he dealt with it now He he he he dealt with he punished them for it now Moses is figuring out who did this whose fault is it? Verse 21 and Moses said unto Aaron So obviously I highly doubt that Moses came down and Aaron came running up to Moses saying hey I'm the one who did this as Moses is grinding this to powder I doubt Aaron was like I'm the one who did that just so you know that was my idea I obviously it was the people who probably pointed out the Aaron. Oh, no, he's the one who did it So the people blame Aaron and Moses said unto Aaron What did this people into the that that was brought so great a sin upon them and Aaron said let's not the anger of my Lord Wax hot though knows the people that they are set on mischief So the people blame Aaron then Aaron blames the people He says to Moses, you know how they are, you know, they're always there. They're always up to something Even though he was the one who actually did it For they said unto me this is Aaron talking Make us gods we shall go before us for as there's Moses. So then again the people blame Moses The man that brought us up or the land of Egypt We want not what has become of him and I said unto them Whosoever have any gold let them break it off So they gave it me and I cast it into the fire and there came out this calf So he tells them For for a random reason totally unrelated to the intent of making an idol. I asked them to give me all their gold Not to make an idol. I just asked them to do that I had been giving me all their gold and then I melted the gold and I put it in the fire Not to make an idol that just I don't know. I just decided to do that and then this calf just popped out of the fire And you laugh at that, but here's the thing you say that's ridiculous. That sounds so silly Look, that's how we sound when we're making excuses for our sin We do the same thing we go to the man of God and here's the thing We think we're really good at it. We think we're really good at making excuses, but we're not All it takes is anybody whether it's a pastor or a brother and Christ sister in Christ to look at it from the outside in unbiased and be like what are you talking about? What are you doing? This is what we do. We say I I don't know. I this wasn't my fault I just I just I just did this and it just happened. I don't know I was told not to you know People refused to take the blame so I think that's why this story's in the Bible because we kind of laugh at this And we say that's ridiculous and we chuckle at it, but that's the point This is how we sound to the Moses's of our lives when we're making excuses for our sin and trying to blame other people So I believe the story is is very intentional as funny as it may be So don't blame them out of God I mean the stories people are blaming people left and right the people blame Moses then then they blame Aaron when they Actually do the sin then Aaron blames the people and then Aaron blames the fire. It's ridiculous. So look If you've already gone if you've already taken the the train of sins to the to the point where you've already ignored the advice and Look deal with it then don't keep blaming people. Don't start doing that. Just deal with it and get right and move on from there Because here's the thing when it shows everybody else as it shows when you blame other people You blame them out of God. Everybody knows what you're doing. So all it does for you Is it shows how poor your character is it makes you look like a fool? Is it you know, look at look at Aaron here I mean this this made him look like it like a fool just just from him thinking that other people would believe this and Ultimately, it just makes your your sin problem worse. It's just the worst way to deal with your sin So let's make sure that not only when the man of God cancels our plans, right? We're going forward with plans that we're trying to justify We're trying to move forward with when the man of God steps in the way and says hey Hey, don't do that. This isn't good for you. This isn't what God wants for your life Don't ignore him, but even more even more so than that don't blame him Don't start blaming other people for your sin the second that you can acknowledge your own sin is the second You can start fixing the problems that your sin is created so third tonight and this is probably The the the biggest one but when when you're on the train of your sinful plans And you get at the stop of of ignoring the man of God You you ignore him you stay in the train and you start blaming him. What can people do next? Well, the next thing is when the man of God cancels your plans. Don't attack him. Don't attack him That's that's what that's another thing that people can do turn to a second Kings 1 second Kings 1 So we're kind of fast-forwarding here many years. Ahab has died and now his son a his eye at King So Basically first Kings ends with the death of Ahab and it begins with the reign of his son That's kind of the divider there. So second Kings. Let's just start reading the book in verse 1 So a have is just died verse 1 Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab verse 2 and a hasiah again His son fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria and was sick And he sent messengers and said unto them go inquire of Baal Zeebub the God of Echron whether I shall recover of This disease so more plans right here a hasiah probably not much worse or not much better than a have is He gets injured. He's sick and he tells his plan is he tells his messengers He says okay go to Echron and I want you to ask the devil for advice Ask the devil ask Baal if I'm gonna recover of this disease. So what does God do? He had he gets his plan Canceler to cancel his plans, but the angel the Lord said to Elijah the tish bite Rise and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and saying them is it not because there is not a God in Israel that you go to inquire Baal Zeebub the God of Echron By the way, I think it's also interesting that the prophets always outlive the kings You'll have the if you have a series of evil kings You'll have like one prophet that that lived during the reign of like five kings just kind of interesting that works out Sin kills so so he goes and he tells Elijah Go to his messengers literally stop them on their journey and tell them it's in rebuke them for this Now therefore they'll say to the Lord They all shall not come down from that bed on which they were gone up But shall surely die in the light of the party so he walks up to me stops them says you're doing this because you're back So and you've rebelled against God and by the way, you're gonna die and he just leaves And when the messengers turn back unto him They go back to his eye. He said to them. Why are you now turn back? He's like why are you back so soon? And they said unto him there came a man to meet us and said unto us go turn again to the king That sent you and say unto him let's say that the Lord is it not because there is not a God in Israel They tell him what Elijah said Verse seven and I think it's interesting I think as I knew it's an actually who this was because we see him ask this really vague question Just to just a kind of like he thought he knew who it was But he's like okay just to be sure I'm gonna ask this question and he said unto them What manner of man was he which came up to meet you and told you these words and answered him? He was a hairy man and good with the girdle leather but his loins and he said it is Elijah the tish bite He knew exactly who it was he asked him this vague question about what was he dressed like was he look What do you look like and they tell him and he's like I knew it was all Again cancelling people's plans. So how does he respond? Maybe he'll get it better. Maybe a hab Was a little worse than this second Kings 1 Verse chapter chapter 1 verse 9 then the king sent unto him a captain of 50 with his 50 And he went up to the him and see me hold he sat on the top of a hill and he spake unto him The old man of God the king has said come down. So he sends soldiers. This isn't to reward Elijah This isn't to thank Elijah for the spiritual advice He's sending a literal army a little company against him to harm him into basically take him prisoner Take him prisoner and you say that's terrible. Look people do this This is how people respond when sometimes when when the man of God in their life cancels their plans turn to second chronicles 24 Second chronicles 24, and this isn't new You know men of God are always suffering for for the message that they bring Jeremiah 15 15 says oh Lord Downoist remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors take me not away in that long suffering Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. This is Jeremiah talking So this isn't anything new men of God are always suffering rebuke for the message that they carry But look especially as a belief a believer You don't want to have anything to do with that you want to have anything leave that to the world Leave the persecution of the man to God to the world second chronicles 24, so this is during Josiah's or not Josiah Joe ashes rain, so Joe Ash was seven years old when he began to rain and if you remember Jehoi to the priest kind of Kind of taught him and was there for him to teach him the laws of God and as soon as Jehoi died then Then Joe Ash kind of went downhill from there verse 18 This is after the death of Jehoi to the priest and They left the house of the Lord God their fathers and served groves and idols and wrath came upon Jude in Jerusalem For this their trespass yet. What does God do yet? He sent prophets to them to bring them again to the Lord because look that's what God wants God God Ultimately, he just wants us to get right. That's what is looking for yet He sent prophets to them to bring them again into the Lord and testified against them But they would not hear they refused to listen and the Spirit of God came upon Zachariah The son of Jehoi to the priest It's what stood above the people and said unto them Thus say of God why transgress you the commandments of the Lord that you cannot prosper Because look Tran especially as a believer if you are transgressing against the commandments of the Lord you cannot prosper It will not work for you. Just as a blanket statement Because you have forsaken the Lord notice this Here he has also forsaken you and they conspired against him and Stoned him with stones the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord So he rebukes the nation specifically the king and the king gives the order to take his life to kill her Look, this isn't anything new Even people who? Who are saved can respond if they refuse to get off the train and they keep going deeper and deeper into their sin Look don't let yourself get to the point where not you not only are you ignoring the men of God in your life Not only are you blaming them, but to where God forbid you actually start attacking them God forbid And you look when you say Why do people do this? Why do people go to such extents where they actually start attacking the men of God? Is it because they hate him personally is it because they hate the hate him is a man Or do they hate his words? Is it that they hate his advice they hate what he's telling them they hate they hate the the commandments Because there's a thing a lot of times when people are trying to justify their decisions like we like we do and we're trying to Spiritualize their decisions. We don't want to come out and say I disagree with the Bible I disagree with what God wants for my life. No, they they're blaming it They put it off in the man of God and say no, it's his fault. It's him. He's the one who should be attacked And this isn't anything new either Jesus said in in John 15 18 He said if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world The world will love his own but because you're not of the world But because I've chosen you out of the world Therefore the world hated you there's anything new Jesus saying they just hate you because they hate me And I'm the one who told you what to say. I'm the one who commissioned you so it's not you They hate it's me and they hated me long before they hated you They don't hate the prophet they hate the message of the one behind him if that makes sense So look the bottom line and in the biggest reason you don't want to be a part of this as a Christian is look God Avengers his prophets his messengers God is God has their back Few things if you just read the Bible just a general thing about if you read Revelation if you read the prophets There are few things in the Bible that will bring the wrath of God more fiercer and faster Than the harm of innocent people and his men his prophets It's not something we want to be a part of trust me just own your sin. Don't let yourself get to that point I mean do you really want to be involved in that you really? I mean obviously You know the world killing Christians and martyrs that's a whole nother thing But do you really want to be involved in the attacks of God of of people of soul-winning Christians soul-winning pastors to any extent? We don't Turn to 2nd Kings 1 2nd Kings 1 will continue this story 2nd Kings 1 verse 10 will continue it says in Elijah Answered and said so again as I have sent this company to harm Elijah and Elijah answer and said to the captain of 50 If I'd be a man of God then let fire come down from heaven and consume the and I 50 and there came down fire from heaven Look God has his back God's on his side And consumed him and his 50 Also again also so he tried it again Again, also he sent into him another captain of 50 with his 50 and he answered and said unto him Oh man of God thus at the king said come down quickly The Elijah answered and said unto them if I be a man of God let fire come down from heaven and consume the and I 50 and the fire God came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50 again tries it a third time Tries that he won't get right tries it again, and he said again a Captain of the 50 with his 50 and the third captain of 50 went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and miss out him and Said unto him old man of God I pray thee let my life and the life of these 50 that servants precious in my sight Behold there came down fire from heaven and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties Therefore let my life now be precious in my sight and the angel the Lord said unto Elijah Go down with him be not afraid of him and he rose and went down with him unto the king Look just as a side note here Some sins are so bad that you'll be destroyed even if you're just in the presence of it Even if you're just the soldier that's in the captain of 50 You may not be the one who made the decision or whatever who is currently carrying it out But look God, you know you'll be harmed in those sins as well But God tells him he says I'll protect you just go ahead and go with him Look, it's not it's no it's no joke It's no joke think about Saul Saul literally had 85 priests murdered 85 priests and their families Murdered how did that turn out for him? Obviously, he lost the kingdom for for the one instant we already read about but how did that turn out for him? First Chronicles 10 13 says so Saul died for his Transgression which he committed against the Lord even against the word of the Lord which he kept not it's all died It's also wicked God eventually took his life on this earth because of it look it's no joke Look, you don't have to agree with the man of God Look if you want to ignore him go on and make mistakes and ruin your life So be it but look when you decide to cross the line of attacking him You're playing baseball with a grenade my friend You're just asking for trouble because here's the thing. Let's say that you're right. Let's say you're right and let's say that You are given, you know wrong advice just just for a second Let's just pretend that you're being given wrong advice or something if even if you are right in that area But you decide to go attacking the man of God. God still has his back Because that is not something that we should never have an excuse for doing that to a soul winning Man of God a soul winning a Bible-preaching man of God, especially our own especially the one that God's given us in our lives Whether it's just a spiritual leader or a pastor or whatever it is turn to first Kings 21 So we talked about the wrong responses, right? Don't ignore a man of God when he cancels your plans Don't ignore him. Don't blame him especially don't attack him. But what's the right response? How should we respond right? That's not it's kind of like soul winning, right? We tell people okay. Here's what salvation is not It's not working your way to heaven. It's not, you know Thinking that your works you have to keep up your works to save. It's not being baptized It's not repenting your sins, but then we tell people what it is, right? So, okay. Here's the right salvation though It's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's look at the right response So this is back in the reign of a hab Wait when he was king and of course, this is the story where a hab wanted There's this vineyard that was next to a hab's house is owned by a man named Naboth A hab wanted the vineyard and he went to Naboth and said I'll give you money for the vineyard Sell me the vineyard. Naboth said it's not for sale. It's not for sale. He wouldn't sell it So eventually a hab together with his wife conspired to kill him They they took Naboth and they had false witnesses accuse him and he was murdered They murdered this man just to take his his property So first 16 first Kings 21 16 and it came to pass. So it's all over Naboth is dead When a hab heard the Naboth was dead the a hab rose up to go down to the vineyard and Naboth the jazzer light to take possession of it Here he is with more plans. I Imagined him. I you know, I can't try to set the scene in my head here. He's Naboth is dead There's probably no one in this vineyard and a hab's walking in the vineyard. Maybe he's admiring it He's gloating in the fact that he he got away with that, right? He did it He got away with murder now the vineyard is his he's literally on his way to sign the title He's on his way to take possession of it. He's in this vineyard. He's probably alone But then again the man of God has been commissioned to cancel his plans Verse 17 the word of the Lord came to Elijah the tish bite Arise go down to meet a hab king of Israel, which is in Samaria Behold he is in the Nate the vineyard of Naboth whether he has gone down to possess it And then God tells him here ahead of time what he's gonna say and that shall speak in him saying Thus they at the Lord house though killed and also take possession And now shall speak unto him saying thus say at the Lord in the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth Shall the dogs lick of thy blood even nine and so I picture I picture a hab here. He's in this vineyard And he sees Elijah there sees him again for the third time in his life There to cancel his plans and they have said to Elijah Has thou found me oh my enemy said you got me again. You found me again And he answered I have found me because thou has sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord So as we go in and we read this we're gonna see Ahab was so bad. We're gonna see Elijah Give a curse to a hab that is so serious. It was only given to three People in the Bible. He basically there's this curse where he tells him it was given to two to three people in the Bible that God is going to kill you and he's gonna wipe out your entire family because of your sin That's how bad a hab was now eat a picture being a hab picture hearing this as he goes on he goes into this this curse Picture him hearing this verse 21 be whole I will bring evil upon thee and will take away that posterity And will cut off from a hab in that piece of against the wall in him that is shut up and left in Israel He said your whole family's gonna die and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nabah Like the house of Bosch a king of a high jails are two people before him that were cursed with this for the provocation Where with us provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin and if Jezebel also spake the Lord saying the dog Shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel him that died that they have in the city The dog shall eat in him the diet in this field show the fowls of the air eat and then he tells them in the same place Where the dogs lick the blood of Nabah through you killed they're gonna lick your blood when I kill you And let's see what how he responds It's kind of unexpected first 27 and it came to pass when a hab heard these words notice this That he rents his clothes He put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly You say oh, those are just crocodile tears. He's just feigning it. Look God recognizes it God sees him humble himself and God God looks at that and says I recognize that Verse 28 and the word of the Lord came to Elijah the tishbite sing see us now how a hab Humblet himself see again. It's all due to pride How they have humbled themselves before me because you have humbled themselves before me look what God says I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's day days Will I bring the evil upon his house? God says, you know, he's gone too far I can't I can't completely forgive it, but since he's humbled himself and he's he's he's he's he's you know Fasting and he's going softly. He says because of it. I will bring this curse out in his son's days Now a hab did eventually die because of other sins he committed later But God promises that I will not execute this curse until he is dead. I will do it in his son's days Turn to second chronicles 12 You know, this is a promise that God has in the Bible God promises that Especially with his people with Israel if they if they turn from their sin God says I will recognize that You don't have to turn there, but in second chronicles 7 God tells Solomon God tells Solomon in second chronicles 7 13 if I showed up heaven that there be no rain Or if I command the locus to devour the land or if I send pestilence among my people He's saying if their sin gets so bad I actually have to punish them for it not to ruin their land God says this he says if my people Which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways God promises he says then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin And we'll hear the heal their land God leaves the door open here He says even if I'm in punnit they're in punishment and they're in judgment He says if they come they ask for forgiveness and they humble themselves He says I will I'll hear that I'll hear that you know, maybe I won't be able to you know You know remove the punishment, but I will forgive them for that. I will I will move past that You learn second chronicles 12 This is with Ray abome later Ray abome's life When he turns against God second chronicles 12 5 then came to many of the prophets So here's a man of God to cancel some plans to Ray abome into the princes of Judah that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak and said unto them so Ray abome's in trouble. He's rebelled against God He's being judged and God has sent this army against him to punish him and Notice what he says the prophet says to him they'll say at the Lord Yeah, forsaken me and therefore it says because of that have I also left you in the hand of shishak God says I've left you in the hands of this army because of your sin went upon the princes of Israel and the king Humbled themselves and they said the Lord is righteous They got right they they they humbled themselves and notice and when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves The word of the Lord came to Shimea saying they have humbled themselves Therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of shishak well, some people They stay on this train of their sin to the very end They they go down they ignore advice. They blame people Maybe they even attack people The man of God who were giving them advice, but look you look at a have you can get right the 11th hour It's I mean it's possible. I mean, can you do it? Yes We're about to forgive you. Yes Will he spare you from the punishment and judgment? Maybe Look you can do it But look wouldn't it wouldn't it just be better to have listened in the first place? Wouldn't it have just been better a have to listen the first time Elijah walked up to you instead of waiting till He came up to you in a vineyard of someone you had murdered after you had been murdering killing prophets for many years Wouldn't it would have just been better to do it in the first place? turn to Zachariah 7-8 Look it's better to apologize. It's better to apologize for playing with the match Then after you've already burned down the building It's better to have the man of God come up to you and say hey, you shouldn't do that put that out don't Put the put the put the lighter away put the fire put the match away Then to wait till you've ignored him Destroyed your life and your life is on fire. It's burned down and you're like, okay fine fine fine I'm sorry. Look you can do that and God will forgive you as a Christian Obviously, you know will always be saved and our sins will never catch up to us They're there as far as the east is from the west and God will forgive you But look that doesn't mean that the consequences of your sin are just going to disappear It should be a warning to us should be a warning to us You're there in Zachariah 8. We'll finish here in the word came into Zachariah saying Zachariah 7-8 They'll speak at the Lord of Host saying Execute true judgment and show mercy and compassion every man does brother In a press not the widow nor the fatherless the stranger nor the poor let none of you imagine evil Against his brother in your heart. So Zachariah's this is after the captivity. They've come back in Zachariah is preaching them. He's he's looking back on how They did react. He's looking back on Israel's past and how they used to listen and so he's kind of giving them this history verse 11, but they refused to harken and Pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear It's interesting by the way when the Old Testament will mention something that like in the New Testament His people that the Pharisees the Jews did the exact same thing right here. He mentions they stopped their ears Well in the New Testament think about we just read this we just went through the story of of in Acts chapter 7 with Stephen how what do they do they stop their ears? You know he also in Amos, you know how God says for the wickedness they're doing is I will drive them out of my house Sure enough Jesus came and you know in later in time and literally drove them out of his house So this is God's being a little here. He's talking about how they literally responded to men of God in the past and the future But they refused to harken verse 12. Yay. They made their hearts look This is how we are as people sometimes they made their hearts as an adamant stone Lest they should hear the law in the words which the Lord of hosts have sent in his spirit by the former prophets Therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts Then notice this verse here, so he's saying they wouldn't listen. They're fused to listen. They stopped their ears They would they made their heart they harden their hearts anything to not listen to the band of God. They had available Look what God says for this. He says therefore it's come to pass That is he cried as the prophet cried It's a cry here being he yelled he preached as he cried begging them begging them to turn to God in Baking them to listen as he cried and they would not hear So they cried look what God says he says and I would not hear say at the Lord of hosts hear God saying and this is a this is a This is a sombering verse, especially when you think about it applied to unsaved people People you know we go to soul winners and we cry to people we beg them to get saved And God says in the same way that my prophets my soul winners and my man of God Cried and begged people to get saved in the same time. They will cry to me and I will not hear But look as Christians this applies to us, too Because look there's meant God look we all make mistakes. We're all sinners and so as long as we are still sinners We will have men of God correcting us in our lives guaranteed And look in the same way God saying is is the men of God who I've given you are crying unto you and begging you To get right and begging you not to go down the wrong roads He said if you ignore them look God will forgive you even if you wait till the 11th hour God says if you don't get right He says when you're how when the house burnt down in your life's a train wreck and it's all gone Self he says you're gonna cry to me. He said I will not hear Look God forbid that that becomes us God forbid that we take the the council that we'd be given on our lives and the advice in our lives and We put it off so much That when we're in trouble yeah, sure we can humble ourselves we can get right and that's what God wants ultimately But to where our lot we've made such a mess of our lives that God says You know your prayers and abomination at this point just like that verse we read in Proverbs, right? I will no longer hear so look God forbid God refuses to hear us because we refuse to hear as men. Let's use this tool that we have when look when the man Cancel our plans. Let's let's search the scriptures. Let's let's see Whether those things are so like the disciples in Berea how they weren't like those in Thessalonica Why because unlike those in Thessalonica when they heard the preaching these search the scriptures Look when we get advice when our plans are canceled We need to we need to look at ourselves and be like I guess I was doing the wrong thing Or I guess I need to pray about this. I need to read the Bible about this We need to use that tool that God has had because look It's it's it's actually absolutely imperative Man of God it is is there to give up to do something for us that sometimes we can't we can't do for ourselves Which is which is be able to have an unbiased view of what God wants for us in our lives So look let's use that let's avoid the dangers of refusing to listen to spiritual leaders and men of God in our lives Let's power heads and have a word of prayer