Title: Buried with Christ
Text: I Kings 13: 31-34
Date: April 18, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
I Kings 13: 31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him,
that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the
sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his
bones: 32 For the saying which he cried
by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses
of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come
to pass. 33 After this thing Jeroboam
returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people
priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one
of the priests of the high places. 34
And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it
off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
A few
weeks ago I preached a message from this chapter titled “Temptation under an
Oak.” In that message, we focused our attention mainly on God’s prophet—“the
man of God.” We learned from his faithfulness.
Then we learned from his error: God’s prophet disobeyed God: went home
to eat with the old prophet, which God expressly commanded him not to do. Then we learned from God’s faithfulness to
chasten his child: God used a lion to take his prophets life. It was only temporal chastening. Some may
have trouble with the fact that God took his life. But consider how awful our disobedience to
God really is and what our sin deserves—eternal death—this was only temporal
death. This life is not nearly as
valuable as eternal life. God saved his prophet from being corrupted with the
false religion in Bethel. Remember, Moses smote the rock. Therefore God chastened
Moses. God buried Moses in the
wilderness. He did not allow Moses to go into the land of Canaan. But God saved
Moses eternally. Peter saw Moses in the mount of transfiguration. Speaking of Moses,
Aaron and Samuel, Psalm 99: 6 says, “thou wast a God that forgavest them,
though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.”
Hebrews 12 6: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth
1 Corinthians 11:32: But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world
But after
I preached that message I kept looking at this chapter and began to see Christ
all through it. So today,
Divisions:
I. IN THE MAN OF GOD, WE WILL SEE CHRIST BY WAY OF COMPARISON AND CONTRAST; II.
WE WILL SEE THE TWO EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL; III. WE WILL SEE THE END OF THE
UNBELIEVER AND THE BELIEVER
Title: Buried
with Christ
Proposition: In the day of God’s judgment, the believer shall not
suffer the wrath of God because our old
man of sin was buried with Christ and we are now risen with Christ, made the
righteousness of God in him.
I. IN THE MAN OF GOD, LET’S SEE CHRIST BY WAY
OF COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
In the Person and Office
First,
we see Christ in the person and office of the man of God.
Kings 13: 1: And, behold, there came a man of
God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel:
Christ
Jesus is the preeminent Man of God—Christ is the Man who is both God and Man in
one body—why? Christ came out of Judah—Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah—it
was promised and God’ word is true. Christ
came by the word of the LORD—God sent his Son into this world, like as God sent
his prophet to Bethel, exactly when he said he would.
1 Kings 13: 1:…and Jeroboam stood by the
altar to burn incense.
Ten of
the twelve tribes of Jacob had made Jeroboam their king and rebelled from the
house of Judah. Jeroboam feared if the people went to Jerusalem to worship they
might join the king of Judah. So he made
two golden calves—one in Bethel and one in Dan.
He made altars, made priest of those who were not of the tribe of Levi,
changed the feast days and told the children to offer sacrifices there rather
than going to Jerusalem like God had commanded. All of this so he could remain
king. That is what sinners are doing in
this world.
So God
sent the man of God to Bethel to declare God’s judgment. When Christ came in
the flesh, the religious leaders in
Israel—as well as sinners all over this world—were engaged in the vain religion
of their own making, just like Jeroboam was.
Still are.
In the Message
Secondly,
we see Christ in the message the man of God declared.
1 Kings 13: 2: And he cried against the altar
in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold,
a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee
shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and
men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.
Christ declares
judgment is coming…because…we are sinners and holy God will only receive us if
we are represented by his High Priest, Christ Jesus,in the blood of his Lamb,
Christ Jesus, upon his Altar, Christ Jesus.
Christ alone made atonement for his people—accomplishing judgment for
them on the cross. But for those who
reject Christ there shall be a great burning of fierce judgment like it was
told to Jeroboam.
In What the Man of God Did
Thirdly,
we see Christ in what the man of God did for the old prophet. The old prophet asked
the man of God to come home to eat with him.
1 Kings 13:
16: And he said, I may not return with
thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee
in this place: 17 For it was said to me
by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor
turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
The
only way the man of God could have fellowship with the old prophet was for the
man of God to become guilty before God. Likewise, the only way holy God could have
fellowship with his people was for Christ to become guilty before God by taking
the sin of his people so that God could execute justice upon him in place of
his people. Christ did so willingly in obedience to the Father.
2 Corinthians 5: 21: For he hath made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him.
Galatians 3: 13: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree:
1 Kings 13: 22 But
camest back; The man of God DISOBEYED God by going back to
the place God commanded he not go; Christ OBEYED the will of his Father “coming
back” to Jerusalem at the hour appointed to be crucified.
John 12: 27: Now is my soul troubled; and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I
unto this hour.
John 14: 31
But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father
gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
1 Kings 13: 22:..thy carcase
shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers; When the man of God DISOBEYED, the Father
CHASTENED him: in love as a son, forgiven of his sins, not in fierceness of offended
justice, peace with God had been made because Christ was his Surety. But when Christ Jesus OBEYED the Father,
taking the sin of his people upon himself, Christ bore the full stroke of
divine justice which his people deserved—Isaiah 53: 5: But he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the CHASTISEMENT of our
peace was upon him.
Notice what the man of God was riding when he went forth
to the rod. 1 Kings 13: 23:…he saddled for him the ASS; Christ
rode into Jerusalem to bear the chastisement of our peace on another man’s,
lowly asses colt.
1 Kings 13: 24: And
when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was
cast in the way. The reason this was only temporal judgment
for the man of God is because Christ met the lion in the way: Satan who roared
as a lion, his enemies who Christ allowed to treat him so shamefully and nail
him to the tree were a lion and his own justice which Christ bore for his
people was the great lion. And like the
prophet of God, Christ’s body remained there upon the cross, “in the way” for
all to see.
1 Kings 13: 24: and
the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase...This was a sign to us of God’s favor to his child. It is a picture of substitution. The lion could touch the man of God but because the man of God was the one who died, the ass was not touched. Christ told those who came to arrest him, "Take me, but let these go." And catch this, the same lion God used to
chasten his child, God now used to protect his body. When Christ satisfied divine justice and gave
up the Ghost, God used the same men who hung Christ on the cross to protect his
body so that no further harm came to it: the Jews who crucified him took
Christ’s body down from the cross so as not to break their Sabbath day. The same justice which slew Christ is now satisified and now demanded Christ be raised and all those for whom Christ died.
1 Kings 13: 25: And, behold, men passed by,
and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and
they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. God did this strange thing to get men’s attention so they
would broadcast it. Christ was not
crucified in a corner but for all to see. Men are still talking about it to
this day. I’m here to tell you about
him today. By Christ obeying the Father
unto death, God justified his people:
Roman 8: 33: Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34: Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Christ
made atonement for his people. He put
away the sin of his people. Our God is
the Righteousness and Sanctification of his people. As Paul said, “I am persuaded that none of
these things are hidden from [you]; for this thing was not done in a corner.”
(Ac 26:26) Sinner, you have heard the truth, now what will you do?
II. SECONDLY, WE SEE THE TWO EFFECTS THE
GOSPEL HAS ON THOSE WHO HEAR.
We have
two men who heard the truth: Jeroboam and the old prophet. We are not told if God saved the old prophet.
But in these men we see two opposite effects the gospel has upon men.
Jeroboam
did three things in rejecting Christ.
These three things show us a variety of what sinners do who hear and
reject the gospel.
He Tried to Kill the Messenger
1 Kings 13: 4:…when king Jeroboam heard the
saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he
put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him.
The
natural man by vain reasoning, and questioning is attempting to kill God and
his Christ, to kill or discredit God’s messengers, to kill or discredit the
message of redemption. Sinner, the sin
that shall never be forgiven is the sin of rejecting Christ Jesus the Lord.
Hebrews
10: 26 For if we sin wilfully after that
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins, 27 But a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’
law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:29: Of how much sorer
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
He Tried to Gain
Favor by His Doing
1 Kings 13: 7: And
the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and
I will give thee a reward.
Men are trying to bribe God with their works, God will
not be bribed. We need to come down off
our throne. We need to ask God to be
merciful to take us into HIS house, accept us.
We need God to refresh US: regenerate us, wash us in Christ’s blood, robe
us in Chirst’s righteousness. We have no reward to give God from our hands—
Deuteronomy
10:17: For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a
mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward
He Continued in his Evil Way
1 Kings 13:
33: After this thing Jeroboam returned
not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of
the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the
priests of the high places.
Jeroboam
is an example of what all men will do if left to themselves.
Now,
let’s look at the old lying prophet.
1 Kings 13:
11: Now there dwelt an old prophet in
Bethel;
Note: We do
not know if this man ever believed in spirit and in truth. Focus on the things that edify us.
Religious but Dead
Brethren,
we were like this man: religious, he had an office in religion, but he was in a
land of idolatry—In a church or not, all men are religious by nature. But apart from God’s grace teaching us in
Spirit, believer, you and I were just religious liars, living in a land of
idolatry.
He Heard through his Sons
Then,
the old prophet heard about God’s preacher and his message.
1 Kings 13: 11:…and his sons came and told
him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words
which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
God
often uses something like this to draw his people and cross their path with the
gospel. The sons were at a place of idolatrous worship. But that day God sent his preacher to that
place. His sons came home and told their
father what God’s preacher said and the works he did. Always go home and tell your fathers and
mothers, sons and daughters, and neighbors what you’ve heard: not the works of the
preacher, the works of Christ Jesus the Son of God. The old prophet made great effort to
hurriedly go to where the man of God was. The old prophet even asked God’s
messenger to come home to eat with him. A
lost man may go for years with enmity against God, but when God begins a work
of grace in his heart, he finds himself desiring to hear the truth. He’ll even invite them home to his house.
The Word of the Lord Came
We saw
last time, the LORD used the old prophet to rebuke his prophet. But what the LORD did to make him speak his
word is what makes the gospel effectual in the heart.
1 Kings 13: 20: And it came to pass, as they
sat at the table, that THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME unto the prophet that brought
him back:
When
Christ the Word comes into a sinner, when the Spirit of God enters and takes
over, that is when we believe God.
He Beheld the Man of God Died Because of Him
God
makes us hear in our hearts about the death of Christ.
1 Kings 13: 25…they came and told it in the
city where the old prophet dwelt. v26: And when the prophet that brought him
back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God…
The Spirit of God makes us behold Christ
Jesus on the cross. The old prophet knew it was because of him that the man of
God died. The Spirit of God makes
his child to realize, that it was because of me—my lies, my sin—that Christ bore
what I deserved, taking my place on that cross.
He Laid Hold, Publicly Identified and Mourned
The old
prophet laid hold of the body of the man of God, publicly identified himself
with him and mourned for him.
1 Kings 13: 29: And the prophet took up the
carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and
the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 30: And he laid his
carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!
Zechariah 12: 10: And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall
be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn.
What
the old prophet did reminds us of Joseph of Arimathaea?
Matthew 27: 57: When the even was come, there came a rich
man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: 58: He
went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to
be delivered. 59: And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean
linen cloth, 60: And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the
rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
The
sinner who is made to see that his sin put Christ on the tree, is made willing
to identify with Christ though it will mean persecution.
He Believed and Desired to Buried with the
Man of God
God makes
us to believe Christ. We confess we are
dead and were buried with Christ and rose again, we confess him in believer’s
baptism.
1 Kings 13: 31: And it came to pass, after he
had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me
in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside
his bones: 32: For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against
the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are
in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.
Romans 6: 3: Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our
old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Colossians 2: 11
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ: 12 BURIED WITH HIM in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13: And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him,
having forgiven you all trespasses;
III. NOW LET’S SEE THE END OF THOSE WHO
REJECT CHRIST AND OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE BY THE GRACE OF GOD.
Jeroboam Was Cut Off
1 Kings 13: 34: And this thing became sin
unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it
from off the face of the earth.
Those who
meet God outside of Christ shall be cut off, not just from the face of the
earth, but eternally in hell.
The Old Prophet was Spared
But
what happened to the old prophet who was buried with Christ? We do not know his eternal state. But in what happened to him physically, we
see a picture of what shall happen spiritually for those who believe we were
buried with Christ and redeemed from all condemnation.
Over
300 years passed from the time the prophet declared that judgment would come at
the hand of Josiah—it has been over 2000 years since Christ said he is coming
again. But Josiah came according to the
word of the Lord and judgment came according to the word of the Lord. Christ is
coming to judge the world in righteousness.
But as Josiah was destroying everything, something wonderful happened—
2 Kings 23: 15: Moreover the altar that was
at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made
Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and
burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned
the grove. 16: And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were
there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and
burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF
THE LORD WHICH THE MAN OF GOD PROCLAIMED, WHO PROCLAIMED THESE WORDS 17 Then he said, WHAT TITLE IS THAT I SEE? And
the men of the city told him, It is the SEPULCHRE OF THE MAN OF GOD,
WHICH CAME FROM JUDAH, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against
the altar of Bethel. 18: And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones.
So they let his bones alone, WITH THE BONES OF THE PROPHET THAT CAME OUT OF
SAMARIA.
In the
great day of God’s judgment, while all others are being destroyed with fire, God
will say, “What title is this I see.” The
declaration will be made it is Christ Jesus the Man of God. This will be the word of God toward those who
are found in Christ, “Let him alone!” Justice
has been satisfied for those who were crucified with Christ. Our body of death
was buried when Christ was buried. We
arose in him.
Romans 8: 1: There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death.
Are you
buried with Christ? Do you now live
because he lives in you? May God give us
grace to believe on Christ.
Amen!