Wednesday Night Service 7PM - Pastor Ryan -1Kings 20-21

Testing one, two. All right. Good evening, everybody. How are y'all doing this evening? All right. I heard one of you say good. That's awesome. Glad to hear it. Y'all want to stand with me and we'll open in a word of prayer and just sing some praise to our Lord this evening. God, I just thank you that you are here with us this evening, Lord. I just pray that you would just cause our souls, our spirits, Lord, just to cry out to you, Lord, to give you praise.

Lord, that we would worship you in song, that we would worship you in word. Lord, that we would just be eager to seek after you as you continue to seek after us. I just pray this in your name. The cross of salvation was only. The star I am chosen.

Wasn't made to be tanned in a gray.

My shame when a fountain of grace is running my way. Cross of salvation was only. The star I am chosen.

Be tanned in a gray. So why would I sing out your praise?

Cross of salvation. Was only. Be the star. I am chosen.

It's word. Not created to be separated from God, but to be alive with him.

Lost in the trial and the chain. The Bible tells us that, amen. Jesus is mine. He's been my fourth man in the fire. Time after time.

Born of his spirit.

He did for me. He's more than enough. I trust. In God, my savior, the one is my store. This is my song raising my, my savior, my say, but I just thank you for giving us this time before you just to prostrate ourselves before you like God, just to completely humble ourselves and give you the praise that you deserve, that you're always working, even when we don't see it.

Even when we don't feel it. Lord, Lord, you're always working in the world. You're working in us. I just pray that you just continue to change us to look more like you got. I just pray that is Ryan comes up and proclaims your word. God, I pray that it would penetrate our heart in a way that we did not see coming tonight. God, that you would speak directly to our hearts, but it wouldn't just be a good feeling Lord that we get sitting here listening God, but that we would leave this place.

I just pray that you take this place and give it to us. I just pray that you open it to people and say, I'm going to do it. I just want to give it to them. I just want to make sure that they're happy. I just want to begin the conversation. And it's not about me. It's about the love of God. It's about us. And God, I'm just thinking about the fact that you we kind of changed people to glorify

you. I just pray this in your name. Good evening. If you would open up into your Bibles to the book of First Kings chapter 20. First Kings chapter 20. Tonight we come to Part three of Elijah and Ahab and really kind of the last of them together, um, after that we'll see kind of the conclusion of both of their lives individually. when last we left those two, Elijah had proclaimed the drought over the land, and that drought

remained until he declared a contest between God and Baal. And so he called all of the prophets of Baal to the top of Mount Carmel, and as he did, he said, well, let's put a sacrifice out there, and whoever God can consume the sacrifice with fire, we know that that's the one true God. And of course, the prophets of Baal were unable to call down fire from heaven, and Elijah was able to, and so God proved himself to be God. Elijah destroys all of the prophets of Baal, and then finds himself, after being threatened by Jezebel, finds himself running for his life, and ultimately slipped into a pretty great depression in his life. And God brought him out of that, and he

brought him out of that by, first of all, meeting his physical needs, and then he met his spiritual needs, and really gave him vision for where to go from here. Well, tonight we sort of leave Elijah behind until the very end of chapter 21, and we really focus in on Ahab. And so the first thing that we're going to see is in chapter 20, there's going to be this war with the Arameans. And so we pick up in chapter 20, verse 1. It says,

Then the messengers returned and said, Thus says Ben-Hadad, Surely I sent to you, saying, You shall give me your silver and your gold and your wives and your children. But about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you. They will search your house and the house of your servants, and whatever you have, I will send to you. And whatever is desirable in your eyes, they will take in their hand and carry away.

So this king gathers 32 other kings and sort of forms an alliance to come against the northern kingdom, to come against Samaria. I don't know if you've thought about that, but that's a pretty big army, pretty formidable army for him to have to face. And so when this army shows up to besiege the city, he sort of sends terms of peace, if you will, to Ahab. And Ahab, being the powerful leader that he was when the first terms of peace came, he sends Ahab to Ahab. And Ahab,

he said, Fine, we'll do what you want to do. He said, I want all of your silver, I want all of your gold, and I want all of the people that you consider to be the most valuable in your land. And he said, Done. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a king saying that? That's what Ahab does, because when you don't have strong moral character, it's really difficult to have strength in any

other way in your life. And so Ben-Hadad says, Well, listen, I've got this guy on the ropes. I'm going to take a little bit more. Not only that, he sent back a message. He said, But also, I'm going to send men to your homes, and they're going to start searching through your homes and take whatever they think is valuable in your eyes. And so he finds himself in a really difficult position. Now, before we move on and

cover the story, I feel like it's necessary to draw a quick little point here that I think begs to be made. Because in this instance, Ben-Hadad presents for us exactly what sin does in our lives. Sin shows up and says, I'm a formidable foe, and if you just agree to the terms of peace, everything's going to be good. If you just give me what I ask, everything's going to be good, and you think, Okay, I'm just going to give in this one time. But what we find is that when you

give in to sin one time, you know what sin wants in your life? It wants more of you. And it will continue to ask more and more and more of you, listen, until you give everything over. That's what sin does in our lives. And there's this perfect picture here of exactly what takes place with us. And if you don't believe me, just ask anybody that finds themselves caught in any sort

of especially addictive sort of sin. You give over in one little way of your life, in one little area of your life, and pretty soon it consumes you. And if you don't believe me, just ask anybody that consumes every part of who you are until you find yourself like that prodigal son saying, What have I done? And hopefully you can come to your senses. Well, Ahab sort of came to his senses,

and he finally calls in a little bit of help. It says, Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, Please observe and see how this man is looking for trouble. For he sent to me for my wives and my children and my silver and my gold. I didn't refuse him. And all the elders and all the people said to him, Do not listen or consent. So he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, Tell my lord the king

all that you sent for to your servants at the first I will do. But this thing I cannot do. And the messengers departed and brought him word again. And Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, May the gods do so to me and more also, if the dust of Samaria will suffice for handfuls of all the people who follow me. Then the king of Israel replied, Tell him, let not him who girds

on his armor boast like him who takes it off. And when Ben-Hadad said, Do not listen or consent, Ben-Hadad heard this message as he was drinking with the kings in the temporary shelters. He said to his servants, Station yourselves. So they stationed themselves against the city. Essentially, he went to the elders and they're like, That's a terrible idea. Tell him no.

That's what you should have said. Tell him no. So he says, Hey, listen, I'll give you the first thing that you wanted, but not the second thing that you wanted. He said, That's not good enough. He said, We're going to war. Matter of fact, may the gods do so to me and more also, if I don't leave you anything but handfuls of dust when all is said and done. And then I love

talk that Ahab brings back to him. He says, Let not him who boasts that puts on his armor boast as if him who has taken it off. In other words, don't count your chickens before they're hatched. Right. And so and so this this continues. And you can picture this this Ben-Hadad guy right in a little bit of a drunken stupor at this point in time. And he's like, Gird on your swords. Right.

He's ready. He's ready for battle. Well, Ahab's a little freaked out now because he just started a war. In verse 13, it says, Now, behold, a prophet approached Ahab, king of Israel, and says, Thus says the Lord, Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver them into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Now, I don't know about you,

but I kind of find this fascinating. Here Ahab has lived in abject sin. I mean, at the end of these chapters, it's going to say that he did more evil than anybody else. He's living in this really terrible area of sin in his life, so much so that he really doesn't like any of the prophets of God, so much so that his wife has sought to kill all of the prophets of God. And so he's

and yet, when Israel is being faced with an incredibly formidable foe, what does God do? God sends a prophet. God sends a prophet to speak to him. And the prophet says, That's a pretty big army, right? It's a pretty big army you're about to face, right? Hey, listen, I need you to know something. I'm going to deliver you, and you are going to know that I am the Lord.

Well, I found myself asking a question while I was studying this, as I was reading through it, and I thought to myself, Why would God do this? Why in this moment will God decide that he's going to deliver the nation of Israel? Because if anybody shouldn't be delivered right now, it's the nation of Israel, because they're living in rebellion against the Lord. Well, so as I was kind of thinking about this and studying and praying, I thought of three reasons why God would still work in spite of everything that's going on in the nation of Israel. I don't think I had to put these up here, so you just have to listen really

closely and use your big listening ears on this, okay? Number one, because he is a faithful God. Because he is a faithful God. You know what we're told in Scripture? That even when we are faithless, he remains faithful. And I love that, because God had made a promise to the nation of Israel. He said, You'll always be my people, right? And he had made this covenant with the nation of Israel,

and even though they were living in sin, even though they were struggling at this point in time to obey the way that they were supposed to obey, God remained faithful to his promise, and God remained faithful to who he is. And I love that. I love that. I love that. I love that. I love that, because it reminds me that no matter what's going on in the rest of the world,

no matter what's going on in the rest of life, even if I find myself perhaps in a place I'm not supposed to be, nothing about God will change, because he will continue to remain faithful in spite of everything going on in the world around us. So number one, because he's a faithful God. Number two, because he is a merciful God. Because he is a merciful God. Because in this

moment, I feel like God is doing everything that he can to extend mercy to any of us. And I love that, and mercy to the northern kingdom. And the way that he's going to show mercy is by giving them a victory in this battle, so that it will give every opportunity for the children of Israel to turn to the Lord. So that when they look, they'll say, God did that. God was the one that won that

battle. And therefore, let's turn ourselves over to God, because he is the God who brings victory. God had no reason to do this, other than the fact that he is a merciful God. And mercy is always his default. I'm reminded of the verse, and I'm going to read it to you. What we're told in the book of Ezekiel, that judgment is God's strange work. It's not what

he desires to do. It's his desire to show mercy. And that's what he does with the nation of Israel here. And it's what he does with Ahab. And not only is it because he's a faithful God and a merciful God, but number three, because he will always defend his name. God will always defend his name. Did you notice what he said? Look at the end of the verse. It says,

Behold, I will deliver them into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lord. It actually caused another question to come into my mind as I was studying this. Did God allow this army to be raised up against the children of Israel, just so that he could prove that he really is the Lord? Because did you notice the way that he presented it to them? Let me read this verse to you again. A prophet approached Ahab, verse 13, and said,

Thus says the Lord, Have you seen all this great multitude? It's almost like God allowed this great army to come against him, just so that he could say, Have you seen the size of this army? Have you seen the size of this army? I'm going to deliver them. I'm going to deliver them into your hands, so that you will know that I am the Lord. And we are reminded that God will always defend his name.

And we'll see that happen another time in this chapter. And so this prophet shows up. He tells him that. And Ahab, I think with the most stunned Joe Biden look on his face you've ever seen, he went, he went, By who? Right? Ahab said, verse 14, By whom? And so he said, Thus says the Lord, By the young men of the rulers of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin the battle? And he

answered, You. And he probably went, Me. He said, You're going to begin the battle. He said, I've raised up some leaders, but you're going to lead them. Verse 15, it says, Then he mustered the young men of the rulers of the provinces, and there were 232. And after them he mustered all the people, even all the sons of Israel, 7,000. So if I'm doing some quick math here, you've got,

Ahab plus 232 leaders, that brings us up to 233, plus 7,000 of the nation of Israel. Quick math tells me that's 7,233 people. I'm like a human calculator right now. But that would appear to be nothing compared to the fact that he referred to the army that was against him as a multitude, because they have how many kings? 33, right? Ben-Hadad plus 32 more. Again, look at me,

human calculator, right? That's what I'm doing right now. That's a formidable force, and he's an incredibly small army. Why? So that they will know that God is the Lord. Well, so the young men, or excuse me, verse 16, they went out at noon while Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk. I find it interesting that for the second time now, this seems to have been an issue in the area at this

point in time, and it's pointed out in Scripture. He was drinking himself drunk in the temporary shelters with the 32 kings who helped him. And the young men of the rulers of the provinces went out first. And Ben-Hadad sent out, and told the men, saying, men have come out from Samaria. He said, if they've come out for peace, then take them alive. Or if they have come out for war, take them alive. That dude's drunk, right?

So, it's okay, you can read it again later. So these men went, so these went out from the city, and the young men of the rulers of the provinces of the army which followed them. And they killed each his man, and the Arameans fled. And Israel pursued them. And Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, escaped with horsemen. Then the king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots and killed the

Arameans with a great slaughter. And then the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, go and strengthen yourself and observe and see what to do. For at the turn of the year, the king of Aram will come up against you. I love this. God brought victory. And it was really a pretty easy victory, it would seem like. It would seem as though God brought victory with a much

smaller army over a much larger army, because that's what God always does. Because you, plus God, is always a majority. You, plus God, is always the best odds that you can ever have. Well, he tells them, you need to be ready, because they're coming again. So I want you to notice what they do. It says, now the servants of king Aram said to him, their gods are the gods of the mountains. Therefore, they were stronger than we.

But rather, let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. Do this thing, remove the kings each from his place, and put captains in their place, that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. We will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. He listened to their voice and did so.

I love this. I love the ignorance of God in this moment. They said, surely he is the God of the hills, not the God of the plains. We'll fight them on the plains. You see, that's what they believed about gods at this point in time. They believed they were localized deities. Remember, why did Elijah choose Mount Carmel to challenge Baal? Because that's where they believed he lived.

He was the god of Mount Carmel, right? And so, they believed in these localized deities, and we'll deal with that just a little bit more in a moment. So, sure enough, they're gathering together for war again. It says, and at the turn of the year, just like God had said, I added that part, it's not in there. Just like God had said, Ben-Hadad mustered the Arameans, and he went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

The sons of Israel were mustered, and they were provisioned and went to meet them. And the sons of Israel camped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Arameans filled the country. With the idea that we're in a similar situation, if not maybe worse this time. He said, get ready because they're coming again. And they're like, two little flocks of goats with all of these

Arameans, right? I want you to notice what happens. Then a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel and said, thus says the Lord, because the Arameans have said, the Lord is the God of the mountains, but he is not a God of the valleys. Therefore, I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord. If you're an underliner or a highlighter, you might underline or highlight that again,

because this is the second time in the chapter that that's been said, that God will defend his name. So I want to camp out on this thought for just a second. So again, God is faithful to his name. He is faithful to his promise, and he's a merciful God. So once again, he sends a prophet of God who goes along and says, hey, you need to know something. This is what they're saying.

They're saying that God is only the God of a region. Therefore, they are going to fight you in the region where they think he does not live. And because they've said that, they're going to God will defend his name, and you will know that I am the Lord. Now, we think about that. We kind of laugh about that, like, oh, they thought he was the God of the hills and not the God of the

plains. But how many times do we try to localize God to certain places, right? Like, how many times do we think God only dwells here, right? And we forget that, like, even in the secret places, like God sees and God knows, we're like, oh, God will never see this. No, somebody else might not see it, but God sees it, right? Like, he's everywhere. And he's all the time. And I love it. It reminds me of Psalm 139, when David says,

matter of fact, the verses, again, I failed. I didn't put them up there. I wrote this with ink, even. Psalm 139, verses 7 through 10, says, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up into the heavens, you're there. If I make my bed in the depths, you're there. If I ride on the wings of the dawn, even there, your hand will guide me.

Your right hand will uphold me, because God is everywhere. And I think that we need to remember that, that no matter where you are, no matter what's going on in life, God is there, and he's with you, and his presence is still powerful in every place that you go. Like, we all think that God dwells at church, right? Like, I've heard people say, I want to get closer to God, so go to church. And that's great. You should. Like, the people of God are here, and there's fellowship

here, and we're commanded to be here. But this is not the only place that God dwells. God doesn't just dwell in a building. He doesn't dwell in a temple made with hands, right? The heavens are his throne, and the earth is his footstool. He's everywhere all the time, and we need to remember that. That means that the same God that you worship right here in this sanctuary is the same God that

you can worship sitting on your couch at home with your Bible out in front of you, a little worship music playing, where you're praying at that point in time. God's also there in your job. He's also there at the gym. He's also there on the basketball court, right? He's there in all of these different places. He's out there while you're fishing, all those places, because God's presence is everywhere.

The greatest things that we can do is ask God to reveal his presence to us wherever we go, so that we are reminded that there's nowhere that we can flee from him, because he is the God who is omnipresent. He's everywhere. And so they have this false idea of who God is, and he says, because they have this false idea, I'm going to make sure that they know exactly who I am. So verse 29, they camped one over against the other seven days.

On this day, the battle was joined. The sons of Israel killed the Arameans, 100,000 of the foot soldiers in one day. But the rest fled to Aphek and the city, and the wall fell on 27,000 men who were left. And Ben-Hadad fled and came into the city, into an inner chamber. And his servants said to him, behold, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let

us put sackcloth on and ropes on our heads and go to the king of the house of Israel. And he said, the king of Israel? Perhaps he'll save our lives. So they go to sackcloth on their loins, put ropes on their heads. They came to the king of Israel and said, your servant, Ben-Hadad, says, please let me live. And he said, is he still alive? He is my brother. This guy has no clue. Now the men took

this as an omen, and quickly catching his words, said, your brother, Ben-Hadad. Then he said, go and bring him. And Ben-Hadad came out, and he took him into his chariot. And Ben-Hadad said to him, the cities which my father has taken, I will take you to them. And he took him into his chariot, and he took from your father, I will restore. And you shall make streets for yourself in Damascus,

as my father made in Samaria. And Ahab said, I will let you go with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and he let him go. What a bonehead move, right? Like here he's got the king who just for the second time amassed a giant army against him. They've defeated their forces. They have the opportunity to kill the king. And they're like, guys, listen, I realize

we just got our rear end kicked, but I have heard that the king of Israel is going to kill the king. I've heard that they're pretty nice guys over there. I've heard that they really like to show mercy. So let's make ourselves look like we need mercy, and let's go and ask him. And it kills me the way that Ahab responded. He goes, you mean Ben-Hadad, my brother? You mean the dude that

wanted to kill you? Yeah, that's the guy we're talking about. But isn't it amazing that that's now how he treats him? It's like the guy that wanted to kill him, he now thinks of as one of his best friends that he can't wait to go see again. And they're like, yeah, your brother. That's exactly who we're talking about. Yeah, him. Throws him up in the chariot, makes a covenant with him. Makes a covenant to hopefully have

peace in the land. And so he makes this covenant with Ben-Hadad. Only God knew about it, because God's not localized. It says this, verse 35.

And we're going to get to what he does here in just a minute, but we've got to deal with this real quickly, okay? So this man of God looks at another man of God, another prophet, and he goes, hit me in the face, right? That's basically what he says. He's like, dude, I'm not going to hit you in the face. That's the weirdest thing anybody could do. Now, as soon as he says that, he says,

because you would not do what God wanted you to do, you're going to be killed by a lion. Runs out, lion, right? I don't know how. God just has lions everywhere. Have you ever noticed that? Like, lions just show up out of nowhere all the time in the Bible. And this is what happens to this guy. Now, listen, from this, I think that there's a really important lesson. If any of you

even look like you want me to hit you in the face, I'm just going to hit you in the face, all right? Because I am not going to walk out of this church and get eaten by a lion. I'm just kidding. That's not the lesson that we need to learn from this. We can find ourselves going, why would God have done that? Because listen, if this other man of God had been in tune with the Spirit of God, he would have known exactly what was taking place

at this point in time. Sometimes we fail to realize what's going on around us. We fail to realize the gravity of situations because we're not always in tune with the Spirit of God the way that we should be. And had this man been in tune with the Spirit of God, his life would have been spared because he would have known that what this guy was doing was not seeking self-harm.

What he was doing was seeking to deliver a message to a man that needed a message delivered to him. But he wasn't paying attention. He wasn't listening. He failed to do that. He wasn't to realize the gravity of the situation. And so God dealt with him at that point in time. And we think, man, that's so harsh. But remember, from whom much has been given, much is required.

The knowledge that you have of God and his will makes you more accountable to God and his will. So he asked him to do this. He says, no. He goes to another guy. Then he found another man and he said, please strike me. And at that point in time, the dude was like, absolutely. And so the man strikes him. He strikes him really hard and wounds him. Verse 37. Verse 38, it says,

So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way and disguised himself with a bandage over his eye, which makes sense because he got hit in the face. As the king passed by, he cried to the king and said, your servant went out into the midst of the battle. And behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, guard this man. If for any reason he is missing, then your life shall be for his life or else you shall pay a talent of silver. While your servant was busy,

here and there, he was gone. The king of Israel said, your judgment has been decided because you have decided it. And then he hastily took the bandage away from his eyes. And the king recognized him that he was of the prophets. I question if this is the same guy all three times. It doesn't say it is. That's my own personal question there. And he said to him, thus says the Lord,

because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction. Therefore, your life shall go for good. And your people for his. So the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and vexed, and came to Samaria. It's interesting what he does here because this prophet, of course, makes himself look wounded as if he had let a prisoner go on accident. And now he had a penalty that he had

to face. And the king goes, I have no mercy for you right now because you knew what was going to take place if you didn't fulfill the orders that you had been given. And of course, the king goes, and of course, he takes the bandage off, and he says, right back at you, because you were given an order, and you didn't follow it. You have let this man live, a man who was devoted to destruction. And I'm reminded of something. We have to destroy sin, otherwise it will destroy us.

We have to destroy sin, otherwise it will destroy us. And too many of us look at the thing that will destroy us, and we say, my brother. We look at the thing that will destroy us, and we say, my friend. We look at the thing that we say that we know that will destroy us, and we say, but I still like it, but I still crave it, but I still want it. Meanwhile, it's the thing

that will destroy you. And rather than putting it to death, we make a covenant with it. We say, listen, let's have a little bit of peace. I'll give you a little bit here. If you only take a little bit over here. And we think somehow we can make a covenant with sin. We can make a covenant with the world, and it'll be okay. And we can kind of control it. The problem is, we can't. The problem is, you can't mess with sin. You have to destroy it,

or it will destroy you. It's kind of fascinating, because if you go all the way back to Genesis, we're reminded of what happened with Cain and Abel, right? Like, Abel offered a sacrifice that was accepted by God. Cain offered a sacrifice that was not accepted by God. And so Cain began to be very jealous of Abel, and felt somehow slighted by God. And so God showed up,

and sort of warned Cain. He said, listen, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you. Its desire is to rule over you, but you should rule over it. And I'm reminded that that same principle runs all throughout Scripture. That's the same principle that God gave the children of Israel when they came into the land. He said, listen, the desire of the gods of this land

is to destroy you. Don't make a covenant with it. You destroy it. You move into the New Testament, the same thing's there. It's like, what's going to control you? Are you going to continue to live in sin that wants to destroy you? Or are you going to live in the freedom of Jesus and the freedom of obedience? Well, of course, Ahab chose to allow sin to destroy him. And so, of course,

he tells him, this is destruction for you. And I love the way that Ahab responds, and says, the king went away sullen and vexed. You know what I think? Maybe I'm wrong on this. Although, given what we're going to read at the end of the next chapter, I don't think I am. I think if Ahab had said, you know what, you're right, and gone and put that king to death,

perhaps God would have shown mercy. But you see, he had what we call the sorrow of the world. See, the sorrow of the world hates that there's consequences. The sorrow of the Lord hates that you have hurt the heart of God. Because one, let me tell you, the sorrow of the world hates that you have hurt the heart of God. Because one, let me tell you, the sorrow of the world hates that you have hurt the heart of God. Because one,

leads to death, the other one leads to life. Well, he goes away sullen and vexed. And of course, we're not done with Ahab and Jezebel yet. It says, chapter 21, verse 1, now it came about after these things, he's all sad and stuff, that Naboth, the Jezreelite, had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, makes sense, beside the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, give me your vineyard that I may

have it for a vegetable garden, because it's close beside my house, and I will give you a better vineyard than it in its place. If you like, I will give you the price of it in money. But Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. So Ahab came into his house sullen and vexed, there's those words again, because of the word which Naboth, the Jezreelite, had spoken to him. For he said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he

lay down on his bed and turned away his face, and he ate no food. What a baby, right? So, so he sees this vineyard, right? He's already a little bummed out because of the whole destruction thing. Like, he's sullen and vexed over that. He's like, you know what really made me happy? A new garden. A new garden would make me, that's a beautiful vineyard right there. It's right next to my house, super

convenient. I'm just going to see if Naboth will sell this to me. So he goes to him and says, hey, listen, I got a deal for you, okay? I got a deal you can't refuse. I will either give you a better or I'll just pay you for it. Let's just do that. But you see, there were good people living in Israel at this point in time. There were people that really understood God. They understood his

law, and they understood his promises. And he said, I can't do that. That's my inheritance from the Lord. And one of the things they weren't supposed to do is move boundary stones. You weren't supposed to get rid of your inheritance. He said, I can't do that. This is mine, given to me by God. So once again, he's sullen and vexed. He goes back to his house. And basically, he throws a temper tantrum, right? Like, he goes straight three-year-old on us,

because he goes and he lays down. He's like, I'm not going to eat. I'm going on a hunger strike. Sidebar, I've never understood hunger strikes. Listen, if you come to me and you say, I'm not going to eat until you do something, I'm going to tell you, congratulations. I hope that goes well for you, because it does not make sense to me. Do something that might hurt me, not you. Anyway,

that's neither here nor there. But that's what he does. He throws a fit, lays on his bed, and he's pouting over the whole thing. And then in comes Jezebel, scariest woman known, a man. He says, but Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said to him, how is it that your spirit is so sullen and that you're eating no food? He said, I picture a lot of this going on right now,

because I spoke to Naboth, the Jezreelite. I won't read it all in a whiny voice. And said to him, give me your vineyard for money, or if it pleases you, I'll give you a vineyard in its place. And he said, I won't give you the vineyard. And Jezebel, his wife, said to him, do you now reign over Israel? In other words, be a man. Arise, eat bread. Let your heart be joyful. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite.

And at that point in time, if it was a movie, that's when the really scary music plays, right? And she sort of goes. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with a seal and sent letters to the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city. And she wrote in the letter saying, proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people and seat two worthless men before him.

And let them testify against him saying, you cursed God and the king and then take him out and stone him to death. So the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in the city did as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it is written in the letters which he had sent them. They proclaimed a fast and they seated Naboth, the head of the people. And two worthless men came in and sat before him and worthless men testified against him, even against Naboth, before the people saying, Naboth cursed God and the king. So they took him outside the city,

stoned him to death with stones. They sent word to Jezebel saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead. When she heard that Naboth was dead, she said to Ahab, arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money. For Naboth is not alive, but dead. And when Ahab heard that he was dead, he arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth,

the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. What a horrific thing to do to a guy. All the guy wants to do is keep his own piece of property. All the guy wants to do is have his own inheritance in the land. He doesn't want much out of life, just his own vineyard. And she, of course, comes up with this deceptive plot to have him put to death. Kind of sounds familiar, doesn't it? Doesn't it

remind you a little bit of the story in the New Testament of when they crucified Jesus? That's what it feels like a lot to me. And so, so she has him put to death. And of course, Naboth comes, and he's pretty excited about the fact that he gets his brand new vineyard. And in this moment, can you imagine what anybody that knew Naboth felt like? How are they going to get away with this? How can God allow this to happen?

Where was God in all of this? Where was he when this was taking place? I want you to know something. God saw, and God will deal with it. And I'm reminded that sometimes we see injustices take place in the world. Sometimes we see injustices take place within governments, within businesses, within families. In certain situations, we see injustice take place. And we

can find ourselves going, but where was God in that? Why would God have allowed that to happen? And we have to remember that just because we don't see God act immediately doesn't mean that God didn't see, doesn't mean that God doesn't know, doesn't mean that God won't deal with it. Because I want you to notice the next line. The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite. Oh, there he is. There's my boy, right?

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah. I can just picture it now. Elijah's just chilling next to some creek somewhere, just thinking about God, praising God, pulling locusts out of his beard and stuff like that. And all of a sudden, God goes, hey, Elijah. Hey, what's up, God? You need to go talk to Ahab. Oh, I've been waiting for this. Let's go. He's got a word for him. You know why?

Because God saw and God acted, and we can be reminded of that. So the word of the Lord comes to Elijah, and he says, arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, verse 18, who is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. And you shall speak to him, saying, thus says the Lord, have you murdered and also taken possession?

And shall you speak to him, saying, thus says the Lord, in the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth? The dogs will lick up your blood, even yours. And Ahab said to Elijah, have you found me? Oh, my enemy. And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. I love a good Ahab-Elijah meeting, right? Like there's always a little trash talk between

the two of them. First time he called him the troubler of Israel, now he just calls him his enemy. I don't know what he calls him behind closed doors, but that's what he calls him here. He says, I found you, because you've sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. He says, behold, I will bring evil upon you and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel.

And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger and you have made Israel sin. Listen, remember, just because it feels like God doesn't see, doesn't mean God doesn't see. Just because it feels like God doesn't know, doesn't mean that God doesn't know. And just because it feels like God hasn't acted, doesn't mean that God's not going to act, because he always sees, he always knows, and we can trust that he will always act in justice on behalf of those who have been injured. He goes on to say,

if Jezebel, also the Lord, has spoken, saying, the dogs will eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel. The one belonging to Ahab who dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and the one who dies in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat. Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel, his wife, incited him. And he acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that they had done to him. And he acted

as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the sons of Israel. Boy, that's a heavy word he brings to him, right? Elijah has to deliver a very heavy word to him. Let him know, your whole family is going down, brother. And they're all going to go down in a very ugly sort of way. Why? Because the testimony of Ahab's life is that he did evil more than anyone else. I always think

about this in regards to leaders that we've had over the past 50 years in our own country, and I wonder how many of them who, at times, we have found ourselves in a situation where we've had ourselves saying, how have they gotten away with it? I wonder how many of them the Lord has delivered a word to that says, I've seen, I've known, and I will judge. Maybe not on this side of eternity, but on the other side of eternity. Well, we find that after this testimony is given of him, I want you to notice how Ahab reacts. It came about when Ahab heard these words,

that he tore his clothes, and he put on sackcloth, and he fasted. And he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently. And then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, do you see how he has humbled himself before me? Because he humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but I will bring the evil upon his house in his son's days. You see, that statement right there is how I know that God

is going to bring the evil upon his house in his son's days. And I know that God is going to bring the evil upon his house in his son's days. And I know that God is going to bring the evil upon his house in his son's days. And I know that God is going to bring the evil upon

his soul in the eyes of the Lord. That is a heavy, heavy indictment given of an individual. And yet, when he heard what the judgment on him was going to be, he humbled himself in the eyes of the Lord. How do we know he humbled himself in the eyes of the Lord? Because God is a deterrent. And that is why he was given the second judgment. And that is God, who sees past the outside and sees down to the intent of the heart,

said, do you see what he's done? He has humbled himself before me. What does that mean? I don't know, because we're going to find that Ahaz is not done doing evil yet. But there was in some part of his mind and understanding that he had crossed a line and he needed to humble himself. And God showed a little bit of mercy. He said, this judgment that I just laid out will not take place in his days.

It will take place in the days of his son. Because no matter what, judgment still had to come. But we do see a little bit, we do see a little bit of mercy being shown by God here. Because remember, according to Ezekiel chapter 33, God's desire is to show mercy. It's not his desire to show judgment. Judgment is God's strange work. And I think that's so cool for us to remember, not only in our own lives.

We love to own God's mercy for our own lives. But it's important for us to remember in the lives of the people that are around us. Because in the lives of the people that are around us, sometimes people have hurt us. Sometimes people have done evil to us. And we think, Lord, be merciful to me, but not to them. And you know you've become mature when you can want to extend God's mercy

to the people who deserve it the least. You know you have become mature as a believer when you start extending God's mercy to the people who should never have God's mercy extended to them. Quite a few years. Back now, I showed a little DVD when I was still leading a youth group. And it was stories from Voice of the Martyrs. And it was from somewhere down in South America.

I don't remember exactly the country. But this woman, her husband had been killed by the drug cartels. One particular leader in a drug cartel. And she was so brokenhearted over the loss of her husband. Well, over the course of time, that individual that had killed her husband, he ended up coming to faith in Jesus Christ through the work of Voice of the Martyrs,

through a missionary in Voice of the Martyrs. And he knew that he had to go back and ask forgiveness of this woman whose husband he had killed. And so he went back and he asked forgiveness. And you know what she did? She extended that forgiveness to him. And they are now a part of the same church. Because brothers and sisters, when you can mature in the Lord,

and I'm not sure I'm there yet, when you can mature in the Lord, you can understand that mercy is to be extended to the people, listen, who deserve it. The least. Why? Because we're the people who deserve it the most. We're the, or excuse me, we're the people who deserve it the least. And so, and so we see this happen in Ahab's life. And you kind of scratch your head a little bit and just go, that's God.

Mercy is always his default. Amen. Father, thank you so much for the time that we've had in your word. Thank you so much, Lord, that you desire to show mercy in our lives. And so, Lord, we ask this to rest in you and know that vengeance is yours and not ours. And then Lord, in the meantime, would you work in us a heart of true mercy to the people that are around us?

Father, we thank you and we praise you for who you are in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.