In this sermon, the pastor begins by reading verses from Psalm 50, emphasizing God's power and his role as judge. He then prays for the congregation to be open to God's word and obedient to his commandments. The sermon then shifts to Joshua's final speech to the people, highlighting God's faithfulness in keeping his promises. The pastor warns that turning away from God will result in the fulfillment of the evil things he has promised. The sermon concludes with a lesson from a story in which a young man must choose whether to believe God's word or the word of an old prophet, illustrating the ongoing choice we all face in deciding who and what to believe.

Now at this time, let's turn our Bibles to Psalm 50, not a hundred as is in the bulletin. As I was studying the lesson, I thought, oh, Psalm 50 would actually fit much better with the lesson. So, I'll read the first and odd-numbered verses. Pastor Brian will lead you in the reading of the even-numbered verses, and shall we stand as we read God's Word? The mighty God, even Jehovah, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto Me, those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God is judge Himself. Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against thee. I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings to have been continually before Me. I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof. I will eat the flesh of bulls. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. And call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and you shall glorify Me. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant into thy mouth? Seeing that you hate instruction, and cast My words behind you. When thou sawest a thief, then thou contendest with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, thou slanderest thine own mother's son. And these things hast thou done, and I kept silence. And you thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself. But I will reprove you, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise, glorifyeth Me. And to him that ordereth his conversation aright, I will show the salvation of God. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for the opportunity this morning of praising You. And Lord, we thank You that You are God, and that You possess all things. And Lord, we do want You to possess us. We realize, Lord, that in all of Your universe, only man has truly rebelled against You, and against Your commandments. Lord, we thank You that You've drawn us together today, that You might speak to us. And that, Lord, we might yield ourselves in obedience to Your commandments. That we might become, Lord, everything You wanted man to be. And so, Lord, fulfill in us Your ultimate design and purpose for man. Work in our hearts and lives, Lord, Your work. Draw us close to Yourself today. Speak to us, Lord, through Your Word. And may we give an attentive ear to what You have to say. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. You may be seated. Tonight we will be studying 1 Kings chapters 10 through 13. So we encourage you to read them over this afternoon. Join with us as we journey through the Bible. And it's an exciting journey as we study through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. So tonight, 1 Kings chapters 13 through 15. This morning, we'd like you to just turn with us to chapter 13. We're going to take a healthy section of it. The 13th chapter of 1 Kings. Now, at the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam began to reign over the nation. But the taxes under Solomon were very oppressive. And so representatives from the tribes came to Rehoboam. And they said, your dad overtaxed us and the tax burden is just more than we can bear. We want tax relief. But Rehoboam answered foolishly and he said, you haven't seen anything yet. You think my dad's taxes were heavy? Wait until you see what the tax burden is going to be that I will impose upon you. Well, the people from the 10 northern tribes said, what do we have to do with the house of David? To your tents, O Israel. And the 10 northern tribes rebelled against Rehoboam. And they set up Jeroboam to be the king over the 10 northern tribes. And so you now have a split kingdom. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigning in the 2 southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin. And Jeroboam reigning over the 10 northern tribes. Jeroboam said, you know, if these people keep going back to Jerusalem for the feast days, it's only a matter of time until their hearts are drawn back to Jerusalem and to the king Rehoboam. And so he made 2 places of worship in the northern kingdom. One in the extreme north at Dan. There he built an altar, put a golden calf. And another one at the southern end at Bethel. And there again an altar with a golden calf. And he said, these are the gods that brought your fathers out of Egypt. And so he began to introduce immediately idolatrous worship to the northern kingdom. And so we read 1 Kings 13. There came a man of God out of Judah by the word of Jehovah unto Bethel. And Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord and said, O altar, altar, thus saith Jehovah. Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David by the name of Josiah. And upon thee shall he offer the priest of the high places that burn incense upon thee. And men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. And he said, this is the sign to prove to you that the Lord has spoken. Behold, the altar shall be rent. And the ashes that are on it shall be poured out. Came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which he had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Arrest him. And his hand, which he put forth again, dried up, so he could not pull it in again. And the altar was rent. And the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God had given in the word of Jehovah. And the king said to the man of God, Entreat now the face of Jehovah thy God. Pray for me that my hand might be restored again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored. And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. And the man of God said to the king, If you would give me half of your house, I will not go with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For I was commanded by the word of the Lord, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor go home by the same way that you came. So he went home another way, and did not return the same way by which he came to Bethel. Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel. His sons came and told him all of the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. And they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. And their father said unto them, Which way did he go? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which had come from Judah. And he said unto his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. And so they saddled the donkey. And he rode after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. And he said unto you, Are you the man of God that came from Judah? And he said, I am. And then he said to him, Come home with me and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with you, nor 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 Jehovah, You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor go home by the same way that you came. He said unto him, I am a prophet also, as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Bring him back with you to your house, that he might eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. There have always been those false prophets who speak and their words contradict the word of God. Here the word of God had come to this young man, the young prophet. And the Lord told him, Don't eat bread or drink water in that place. Now here comes this old man. He said, I'm a prophet too. And an angel came to me, and by the word of Jehovah said, Bring the young man back to eat bread and drink water. But he was lying to him. Lying to him in the name of the Lord. Now the young man has a choice. Do I believe what God said to me? Or do I believe what this old man is saying to me? God said, Don't eat bread or drink water. This man is saying, God told him to tell me to come back and eat bread and drink water. Who shall I believe? Unfortunately, the young man believed the old prophet. And he came back with him to eat bread and drink water with disastrous results which we will look at tonight when we study the entire chapter. In our story, we see the choice that has to be made many times by each one of us as to who to believe and what to believe. Do I believe what God has said or what man is saying? This problem developed very early. In the Garden of Eden, there was a tree that God told Adam and Eve, You're not to eat of that tree. And if you do, you will surely die. Satan came to Eve and said, Can you eat of all of the trees that are in the garden? She said, Oh, yes, all but that one in the middle. God told us not to eat of that, we would surely die. Oh, he said, You will not surely die. Now does she believe what God said or does she believe what Satan is saying to her? Unfortunately, Eve believed what Satan was saying to her. And she ate of that tree with disastrous consequences for herself and for Adam and for all of mankind since Adam. For by one man, sin entered the world and death by sin and death passed into all men for all sin. God's Word says that if you live after the flesh, you will die. Satan says, you will not surely die. You can go ahead and indulge the lust of your flesh. Just don't go overboard. And Satan lies to people all of the time concerning the deeds or the works of our flesh, telling them that it's okay for them to do it, though God's Word specifically tells us not to be deceived that if we give ourselves over to the works of the flesh, we are not going to inherit the kingdom of heaven. God said to the young prophet, Don't eat bread or drink water. The old man said, I'm a prophet. God told me to tell you. Many of you perhaps remember Lonnie Frisbee. A young man that God used in a very special way here during the time of the Jesus movement. A powerful anointing of God's Spirit upon his life, such as you seldom see. And as Lonnie was ministering here, there was a older prophet that Lonnie admired greatly. And he came to Lonnie and he said that the Lord had shown him that Lonnie was to come back and to be with him for a period of time that he might shepherd Lonnie and help him to enhance his ministry. And Lonnie and two other leaders here in Southern California of the Jesus movement hearkened to the voice of this older man because they admired him and had looked up to him. And they went back to Florida to be with him, to be shepherded by him, to enhance and to really prepare them for the ministry. Unfortunately, all three of them who had gone back to be shepherded lost the anointing of God upon their lives and none of them were able to return again to the ministry with the same effectiveness that they once had. A tragedy. They listened to what a man had said that God told him to do and instead of listening to God, they followed the word of man and as the result lost the powerful ministry and anointing that they once had. In our story, the same thing. This young man respected the older man who said, I am a prophet and God told me to tell you to come back contrary to what God had said. Know this, God's word is forever established. Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away but his word would never pass away. Back in the time when Joseph was sold by his brothers as a slave and was taken to Egypt and the Pharaoh had a dream and Joseph was brought before the Pharaoh to interpret the dream. Joseph said to the Pharaoh, the reason why you had the same dream twice is because this thing is established by God and it will shortly come to pass. In other words, it was a double dream, same thing but God is wanting you to know that what his word is is established and it's gonna happen soon. When Moses was leading the nation through the wilderness and they began to murmur to Moses because they said, we're tired of manna. It's bland, we don't have any garlic or leeks and all the mix with it. It's just, we're sick. Oh, how we would love to have meat to eat. And so Moses went to the Lord and said, Lord, they're complaining again. They want meat this time. And the Lord said, go tell them that I'll give them meat. Not enough for just one day or two or five or ten but meat for a whole month until they become sick of it. Moses said, Lord, do you realize we have 600,000 men beside their wives and children and you want me to go and tell them that you're gonna give them enough meat for a whole month? And the Lord said to Moses, is the Lord's hand waxed short? You shall see whether my word will come to pass or not. And God sent in the quail and they had quail to eat for a whole month until they got sick of quail. When Joshua was making his final speech to the people, Joshua said, behold this day I go the way of all flesh and you know in your hearts and in your souls that not one thing has failed of all of the good things which Jehovah your God spoke concerning you. All has come to pass to you and not one thing has failed. What a witness of God's faithfulness in keeping his word. Not one thing has failed of all of the things that God has spoken. Therefore, because of this it shall come to pass that all of the good things that have come upon you, which Lord your God promised you, so shall the Lord bring upon you all of the evil things until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given to you. Even as God has been faithful in doing the good things, when you turn from him and turn away from him, you can be sure that all of the evil things that God had promised will surely come to pass because God's word is forever established. In Psalm 89, God said, I will not break my covenant nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips. The prophet Isaiah said, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God shall stand forever. Twice in the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord warns those who would add to his word or seek to take away from his word. And that is always the case of the false prophet. They are either adding to the word of God or taking away from the word of God. Telling you that God did not mean what he said or God did not say what he meant and I'll tell you what God meant when he said this. And adding to or taking away from God's word. But God said, You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish it, that you might keep the commandment of the Lord your God which I command you. And what things I command you, observe to do them, you shall not add to nor diminish from them. In the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, in the last chapter, the Lord again speaks about those who would tamper with his word. He said, For I testify to every man that hears the words of this prophecy of this book, if any man shall add to these things, God will add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. If any man shall take away from the words of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. Now there are some of the things in the book of Revelation are sort of hard for us to accept. In the 14th chapter, which we'll be getting to tomorrow night, God speaks of the punishment to those that have rejected Jesus Christ. And he said, The smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. In the Greek, it's aeonios, prosona, aeonios, or from the ages through the ages. Strongest phrase in the Greek to express eternity. Now people say to me, Do you really believe that God will forever punish those who reject Jesus Christ? Wait a minute, are you asking me to tell you something other than the book of Revelation to take away from what God said? No way. I don't want my name taken out of the book of life. You want me to add to what God said? Well, if you know there might be... You want the plagues of that book to be added to me? Give me a break. You deal with it the way you want, but I'm just going to tell you the way it is, the way God said it is, and I'm not going to mess with it. But throughout the whole Bible, there are warnings against the false prophets. Those who would teach something contrary to the established word of God. And their punishment was to be very severe, because it's a severe issue. In Deuteronomy 18.20, But the prophet, which will presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. You say, well, that's pretty severe, isn't it? Yes. But you see, the result of people listening to a false prophet is their eternal death. It's a serious thing to misguide people in the realm of the things of the word of God, or in the realm of the scriptures. It's a dangerous thing. James said, Now, don't be many teachers, knowing that you will receive the greater condemnation. Always a dangerous thing, not only for the person, because of the judgment that will come upon him, but upon those who listen and follow after someone who is teaching you something other than what God's word has declared. Because the consequences of those who follow their word is severe. Jehoshaphat, who was a good king in Judah, went to the northern kingdom to visit Ahab, who was the king in the northern kingdom at that time. And Ahab was planning to go to war against Syria. And he asked Jehoshaphat, Would you like to go out into the battle with me? And Jehoshaphat said, Well, I'm with you. But he said, Isn't there a man, a prophet that we could inquire to find out if we should go? And so the king of Israel, Ahab, gathered the prophets together, about 400 men. He said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. And so Jehoshaphat said to him, Is there a prophet of Jehovah that we might inquire of him? These were prophets of Baal who told him to go up. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Oh, there's a man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we might inquire of Jehovah, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything good about me, but only evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Don't, don't say that. Let's listen to him. And so the king of Israel called an officer, and he said, Hasten, and bring Micaiah, the son of Imlah. But one of these other prophets, one of the 400, Zedekiah, he made horns of iron, and he went running around with these horns of iron, and he said, With these, you know, will the king push the Syrians, and you will consume them. And all of the prophets prophesied the same, saying, Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, prosper, for Jehovah shall deliver it to the king's hand. And the messenger that had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, and he said, Now, all of the prophets are telling good things to the king, so let your word, I pray you, be like theirs. Speak good to him. And Micaiah said, As the Lord lives, what the Lord says unto me, that will I speak. So he came to the king, and the king said, Micaiah, shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. And the king said unto him, How many times have I told you to tell me nothing but what is true in the name of Jehovah. And he said, I saw Israel that was scattered upon the hills like sheep that had no shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master, let them return every man to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Didn't I tell you he had not prophesied good concerning me, but evil? King of Israel said, Take Micaiah, carry him back to Ammon, the governor of the city, and to Joash my son, and say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in prison, feed him with bread and water until I come in peace. Micaiah said, If you return at all, much less in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-Gilead, and a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and it smote the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. Wherefore he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn and take me out of the battle, I'm wounded. And the battle increased that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot against the Syrians, and he died that evening. And so the king died, and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. Listening to the false prophets cost him his life. Listening to false prophets today can cost you your eternal life. People today are going after false prophets who speak soothing words, but not God's word. People are offended at the talk of the blood of Jesus Christ atoning for our sins. So they say, We'll not talk about the blood of Jesus. We don't want to offend people. We want to have a seeker-friendly church where no one will feel uncomfortable. We won't talk about sin. And they will tell you that all roads lead to God, and that Jesus is not the only way of salvation. That good Muslims will surely be saved, and good Buddhists, and all roads lead to God. That anybody who says that Jesus is the only way is a narrow-minded bigot. The question is, what will happen in the end? As Jeremiah said, the prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and the people love to have it that way. In other words, they are speaking things that will comfort the people. People want to hear these things. I can live however I please, but God will accept me. I can indulge in my flesh and live after the flesh, but I'll still be saved. And they want to hear comforting words. But as Jeremiah said, what will they do in the end thereof? Jesus said, Beware of false prophets. And it would be one of the signs of the last days many false prophets would arise. But how can you tell a false prophet? Well, surely not by his appearance. Well, sometimes you can, I guess. Fancy hairstyles and stuff. He may be wearing sheep's clothing, however. But it's in the message. First of all, if he is telling you that God is broke, and that he needs your help to survive, or he's going to be heading for the poorhouse next week and his work will all be over, that's a different God than what the Bible teaches us. For as we read in Psalm 5010, For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle upon a thousand hills. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. God doesn't need your support, you need God's support. Now, God has given us the privilege of investing in eternal things. If you want to, that's wise. If you don't want to, God isn't forcing. He never wants you to give out of pressure or constraint. But God loves a cheerful giver. If he tells you that you can be saved by just being good, he's a false prophet. God said it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us by the washing of the regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourself, a gift of God and not of works, lest any man should boast. If he tells you that all roads lead to God, that Jesus is just one of the many ways by which a man can come to God, he's talking about a different God than the God of the Bible. For Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me. The Bible says there is one God and one mediator between this one God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. It's sort of alarming when the Pope begins to declare that good Muslims will surely be saved that they worship the same God that we worship. The God that we worship, Jehovah God, is not Allah. And don't let anybody deceive you into thinking that that is so. You must now make some kind of choice, even as did Eve in the garden. Do I believe what God has said, or do I believe what man is saying God has said? The young prophet, do I believe what God told me, don't stay here, don't eat here, don't drink water here, or do I listen to this old man who looks so kind and he has such a kind face, do I listen to him and do I go back and eat bread and drink water in his place? For he said God has spoken to him that I should. Do I believe the word of God or the word of man? The Bible says, let God be true and every man a liar. Now I want you to know that this is a very serious thing because it involves your eternal destiny. That's the heavy part of this. Your whole eternity is determined on whether or not you believe what God has said in his word that does not change and will not alter and is forever established, or you believe what some fellow with a bunch of letters behind his name is telling you that, well, it doesn't really matter just so you're sincere, just so you're a loving, kind person. It's going to be alright. Your eternal destiny rests upon your receiving Jesus Christ as the Savior and the Lord of your life for there is salvation in no other. There's only one name under heaven given by God whereby we can be saved. That's the name of Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible says. Now, to believe that, you will respond and believe what God has said. People will call you narrow-minded. They'll accuse you of bigotry and all kinds of things. They will even want to classify you as a fundamentalist and a terrorist because you believe what the Bible says stands. But yet, because my eternal destiny rides upon my believing what God has said, let them call me what they will. I'll not deter from the faith that I have in Jesus Christ and Him alone for my eternal life. This is the record. God has given to us eternal life. The life is in His Son and He who has the Son has life and He who has not the Son has not life. That's the record. Believe it or not. Let's pray. Father, we realize the seriousness of the issue because there are so many false prophets today. So many voices. So many people that would lead us to just any old path. Whereas, Lord, You have told us there's only one way into Your kingdom. That is the way that You have made, the way that You have provided by sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to take our sin, to die in our place and to pay the price to redeem us from the power of sin and darkness. Lord, we pray that today those that are listening, if they've been deceived, Lord, by some false prophet, by some system of belief, into thinking that they can be saved by any other means, take away the blinders from their eyes and, Lord, let them see Your truth and receive Your truth. Because Your word, Lord, has always stood. Not one good thing that You have promised has failed. But, Lord, we realize also that in the future not one of the evil things that You have declared concerning those that would reject Your provisions through Jesus will fail. That these things will surely come to pass. And so, Lord, today, while it is yet day, while the door is still open, may we follow after Jesus Christ and determine to commit our lives to Him. In His name we ask. Amen. Shall we stand? The pastors are standing down here at the front. They're here to pray for you. If the Spirit of God has spoken to your heart today and you realize that God's word is true and God's word is going to stand, heaven and earth may pass away, but His word is established. We would encourage you as soon as we're dismissed to make your way forward. These men are here to pray for you that you might discover the truth of God by experience. By surrendering your life to Jesus Christ you might begin to experience that wonderful peace that He has promised. The joy that He has promised. That new life that He has promised. That awareness and consciousness of God. Living in the presence of God and in the joy of the Lord. And so, I would encourage you, as soon as we're dismissed, come on forward and receive God's way of salvation, which is the only true way. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. And I would encourage you, believe what God has said. Trust in God's word, not the word of man. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.