THE MAIN IDEA
The word of the Lord leads us to life in Christ. 

THE WORD OF GOD EXPOSES SIN
An anonymous prophet comes to deliver a prophecy of judgment against King Jeroboam and the Northern Kingdom. And as a sign that his prophecy  of judgment would be fulfilled, the anonymous prophet says that the altar that Jeroboam was  making sacrifices on would be split in half, and the ashes would spill out. Jeroboam hears this  and stretches out his hand and tells the people to seize the prophet, but when he stretches out his  hand, it shrivels up, and then the altar splits in half and the ashes spill out, just as the prophet said  it would. The word of God always exposes our sin. And if we don’t repent of our sin, God’s  judgment will come sooner or later, according to His sovereign grace. And God’s judgment is  grace because God’s judgment is always what’s best for us. We can run, but we cannot hide our  sin from God! And if we do not repent, the word of God will expose our sin, and judgment day  will come sooner or later. And if that were the final word about our sin, what hope would we  have for living? 

THE WORD OF GOD EXTENDS MERCY
When Jeroboam’s hand shriveled up, he asks  the anonymous prophet to intercede for him. Our human nature would think that Jeroboam  deserved everything that he got. But amazingly, the prophet prays to God, and Jeroboam’s hand  is healed. Why in the world would the man of God do what Jeroboam asked? And why in the  world would God Himself forgive and heal a corrupt and sinful man like Jeroboam? Well, it’s  because forgiveness and mercy are the way of God! And because forgiveness and mercy are the  way of God, God demands that forgiveness and mercy be the way of Christians, too. The word of  God is very explicit about that, and it is because God has been forgiving and merciful to us. If  forgiveness and mercy are not God’s way, He never would have sent His Son to die on the cross  to suffer the full wrath of God in our place for all of our sins—past, present, and future—and for  all the sins of the world. 

THE WORD OF GOD EXHORTS HOLINESS
Naturally, Jeroboam was thankful to the  man of God for praying for his hand. And so he invites the prophet to his home for a meal and to  receive a reward. Most of us would jump at the invitation. But the man of God declines the  invitation because God had told him to not eat anything during his mission and to not return by  the same way that he came. While God’s command may seem strange and unreasonable to us,  that is the point. God was demanding devotion and obedience to Him—not simply to His  commands. Any command has no meaning in and of itself. Our faith is not in commands. We do  not have a relationship with commands. Our faith is in the Person, Jesus Christ. We have a  relationship with HIM. And so we obey His commands—not for the sake of the commands, but  for the sake of our Lord, Jesus. And so God demands that His people be different from the rest of  the world and set apart for His purposes—that is, to be holy. The word of God tells us that the  people of God are set apart to fill the earth with the glory of God in Jesus’s name through God fearing, God-honoring, God-worshiping, God-loving communities and families—that is the  church. That is holiness. 

DISCUSSION QUESTION
Holiness is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to being a Christian—to be set apart for God’s purposes. We share a lot about the struggles and joys of  our own lives. That’s not bad. That’s good. But it can become bad if we don’t think and talk  about what God wants. What does God want from our house churches?