Ahab: The Conclusion

i think that's going to be an incredible time when when those who have given their life to jesus christ will spend eternity in glory with jesus and all the saints telling their stories can you imagine having moses and david and elijah and all the other saints sharing their lives here what what took place it's going to be incredible and this evening lord we just proclaim your greatness they're so thankful they're so thankful oh god how great your faithfulness is to us what an awesome thing in this world now to have hope so we just praise you we give you the glory in jesus name amen please be seated good evening if you guys would open up in your bibles to the book of

first kings chapter 22 first kings chapter 22. just to kind of bring us all back up to speed we've been looking at the story of elijah and ahab now i think one of the more fascinating things about the story of elijah and ahab is the fact that jesus and david are talking about some of the most fascinating stories of the old testament ahab of course is arguably the worst king israel has seen up to this point in time and maybe the worst one they will see period we're told that he did more to provoke the lord to wrath than any other king and that's just not a good commentary on your life right and so and so ahab that was constantly being confronted by this prophet named elijah and and lots of things have taken place uh with

them well tonight we come to the the conclusion of ahab's life interestingly enough there's there's been two prophecies up to this point in time about the death of ahab if you went back to chapter 20 yeah chapter 20 you find that he went to war with this guy and god wanted him to to end the war and and rather than ending the war he he of course extended uh mercy in such a way that was not what god wanted and and he said since you didn't deal with it i will have to deal with you and then of course in chapter 21 we saw the incident with uh with naboth's vineyard and uh and that prophecy was given that that unfortunately his family line would come to an end

well as we come to chapter 22 we see this uh we see things draw to a close for ahab and so we pick up in verse one it says this for three years or three years passed without war between aram and israel in the third year jehoshaphat king of judah came down to the king of israel the king of israel said to his servants do you know that ramoth gilead belongs to us and we are still doing nothing to take it away from us and we are still doing nothing to take it away from us and we are still dying to live and be free after we'll prevent it and when his people are left to live in a place it looks completely different they're going to do nothing they're going to having to

be thrown into battle by israel but their LET the body parts will all be destroyed and they will be no longer able to traction up any of the power that they have a it was they were faced by an incident concerning the tunic but this is happening now to get out of the hand of the king of aram and he said to jehoshaphat will you go with me to battle at ramoth gilead down closer to Jerusalem in the southern portion of the kingdom, which is why perhaps there would have been a vested interest for Jehoshaphat to want to be a part of that. Side note, can we all agree Jehoshaphat's been one of the more fun names we've talked about here recently? Can we all agree with that? All I'm saying is if you're looking for a name for a son, might consider that one,

because I feel like that kid's going to be the most jovial kid you've ever been around in your entire life. After all, his name is Jehoshaphat. That's neither here nor there and has nothing to do with anything spiritual at this point in time. So he comes to Jehoshaphat and says, hey, why don't we, why don't you and I form an alliance and we'll go and we'll take back the city? And Jehoshaphat

says, that's fantastic. Let's do that. Only Jehoshaphat makes a really wise choice. Notice what it says in verse five. Moreover, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, please inquire first for the word of the Lord. Now again, this guy is the king of the southern kingdom, and we're going to read a little bit more about him. Not only later in this chapter, but we'll read much more about him, not only in 2 Kings, but also

in 2 Chronicles. And what we find out about him is he's a really good king. He's actually a very godly man, and he's making an alliance with a very ungodly king. If there's one weakness, and we'll talk about this again at the end of the chapter, if there's one weakness that Jehoshaphat had, it's that he really, really struggled with his friendships. Like he made alliances with people

he should have never made alliances with. And in this particular instance, he's making an alliance with Ahab, perhaps to bring peace. He's making an alliance with Ahab, and he's making an alliance between the two kingdoms, but still not a wise alliance that he's made. But in this moment, he makes a very wise decision. He says, we should go inquire of the Lord first. And if I may just

quickly, by way of personal application, remind us that one of the greatest things you can do before big decisions in your life is to really take time to inquire of the Lord, to really seek what God's wisdom truly is in that particular situation. I have found that waiting on the Lord is the safest place for me to be. When I am following God, and when I am tuned in with the things of the Lord, there is always time to wait. I think I have to wait on God. Matter of fact, if you don't wait on God the first time, you will have

to wait on God the second time. And so these are just some things that are interesting to point out here. So he says, hey, let's inquire of the Lord first. This is a big decision that we're making. It's a big battle we're going to be jumping into. After all, if you remember from chapter 20, the multitude of the army of the Arameans was huge, right? They were covering the entire countryside.

So to do this would have been a major undertaking. He says, let's make sure God's in this battle. And so the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said to them, shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I refrain? And they said, go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king. But Jehoshaphat said, is there not yet a prophet of the Lord here that we

may inquire of him? Now, the first thing that Ahab does is he gathers 400 prophets. Now, our history with Ahab is this. Do we remember that Ahab was not really a follower of God? He, again, remember the commentary we said about five minutes ago, that he did more to provoke the wrath of God than any other king? Because not only did he follow in the sins of Jeroboam, which was idolatry,

but he had also set up altars and idols to the god Baal. And so were these 400 prophets prophets of Baal? Well, it feels like Elijah wiped most of them out, although there's probably still some more. Were these just false prophets that were prophesying in the name of the Lord? You know what my answer to you is? I don't know. They very well could have been prophets of Baal. They very well could just

be claiming to be prophets of God. But whatever they were, they were false prophets. Whether they were of a false god or not, they were false prophets. And I want to bring out a couple of points here that I think are very interesting for us to pay attention to. Number one, the most dangerous thing that you can do is gather people around you that tell you what you want to hear.

The most dangerous place you can be is to surround yourself with people that only tell you what you want to hear. But that's what we like to do, right? Have you ever noticed that we seek advice of people until they tell us the advice that we want? And we're like, you, I like to listen to you, because that's what I've been looking for. Someone to tell me is exactly what I wanted to hear. Listen, the

best thing that you can do is surround yourself with people that will tell you the truth. As a

friend, I'm going to put this. Oh, look at me go. Proverbs chapter 27, verse 6, it says, faithful are the wounds of a friend. I praise God for the people that have been in my life that have always told me the truth, even if it hurt, even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear at that point in time. Because at the end of the day, I really do want to surround myself with the people that are always going to be very honest with me. I've shared this before, and I'll share it again. It's one of the things I love the most about my wife. She's tender in the way that she presents it to me, but she wants me to be honest with her. And I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm

going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to share this with you. Like when you're not being yourself. And so, if they're really honest friends, they're going to tell you that. So, we need to surround ourselves with those kind of people. The people who are going to make us better.

The people who are going to tell us the truth. Because what Proverbs 27, verse 6 goes on to say is, deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Right? So, if somebody flatters you too much, you should start wondering why that would be. Well, so the second thing that I want to point out to you is this. Not only is it dangerous to surround yourself with people that only tell you the truth, or only tell you what you want to hear,

The most unloving thing that you can do is only tell people what they want to hear. The most unloving thing that you can do is only tell people what they want to hear. You know what the hardest thing to do as a friend is? Reverse side of this. Is to be the one that tells somebody else the truth. Is to be the one who has to be the bearer of the bad news. When they come to you with their idea, when they come to you with their thing, when they come to you with their thought.

And the hardest thing is when somebody comes to you and tells you, I read the Bible and I think this is what it means. and you're like, oh, that's actually heresy. You can't say that, right? And then you have to be like, I love where you're going here. That's not actually true, right? It's a really hard thing to do. But listen, that's a loving thing to do. If I'm living in sin,

then I need someone to be loving enough to tell me that I'm living in sin. If I see somebody else living in sin, then I need to be loving enough to tell them, hey, that's sin in your life. And that's actually pulling you away from God. It's actually pulling you away from the things of God. And it's the most loving thing that you can do to tell someone that.

But in the world that we live in today, confrontation or telling anybody that they're wrong is automatically construed as hatred. Like if you don't affirm me, if you don't agree with me, then you hate me. No, I don't hate you, but what you're doing is wrong. And what you're doing is sinful. And what you're doing is going to lead you to destruction. You see, if I saw a car driving the wrong way

down the highway at 75 miles an hour, the best thing I could do is lay on my horn as loud as I can so that they can realize I'm doing this wrong. I'm doing something wrong. I need to pay attention. If I see someone about to walk out into traffic and step in front of a car where they're gonna get hit, the most loving thing I can do is tackle them or yell at them or do something harsh to get ahold of them.

I'll never forget listening to, oh, what's his name? Dave Fitzgerald from over in St. Louis. And he spoke at a men's conference about a year after he had had a massive heart attack and almost died from it. He's a pastor over in St. Louis County, Calvary Chapel over there. And he said, you know what I learned? I learned that I'm not a Christian. I learned that when EMTs show up to your house,

they don't care about the feelings of your family. They don't care about whether or not your house is clean. They don't care about whether or not they are gonna leave a mess. They care about one thing and one thing only, saving your life. And in that moment, I am so glad that they love me enough to not worry about all the other things. What they're worried about is saving my life

because they have one job and one job only, and that is to save me. And sometimes, brothers and sisters, that's what we need to be. We need to be loving enough that we say the most important thing I can do is save you. Even if it kind of hurts your feelings, even if it's not comfortable in the moment, that's what I need to do, because that's the most loving thing that we can do.

Well, Ahab had surrounded himself with all of these false prophets. And the moment that they show up, he's like, shall we go to war? Yes. It's gonna be great. You're gonna love it. You're gonna have victory. It's gonna be the most awesome thing that you've ever done in your entire life. Probably. Probably the greatest war ever, right? It's gonna be great. And so Jehoshaphat's listening to this,

and I appreciate his discernment in this moment, right? He's like, I mean, maybe a prophet of the Lord would be good right now? How are we feeling about that? Feels like that's the right thing to do in this moment is to call on a prophet of the Lord. How did Jehoshaphat know that these guys were probably not right? How did he know that maybe they needed another opinion?

Well, first of all, because he has wisdom, and there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. You're like, Ryan, he's got 400. Yeah, but he knew. He could tell. The second thing is you gotta listen to that Holy Spirit on the inside of you. Listen, I'm here to tell you right now, I've been in these situations where somebody's got an idea, and the Holy Spirit's going,

that's a terrible idea, and you have to listen to that voice. I don't know why it sounds like Mickey Mouse in my head, but that's what it sounds like. So you gotta listen to that in that moment because that's the Holy Spirit saying, no, that's terrible, right? And that's what Jehoshaphat does. And so in a really diplomatic way, he's like, maybe one more counselor.

Is there not yet a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him? Verse eight. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there's yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. He is Micaiah, son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat said, oh, let not the king say so. The king of Israel called an officer and said,

bring quickly Micaiah, the son of Imlah, and the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the people were prophesying before them. He says, let's see if we can't find a true prophet of the Lord. This is why I don't know if these are actually prophets of Baal or just false prophets of God is because he asks for a prophet of the Lord. Anyway, he says, there's this one guy, right?

But I just hate that guy. He is so negative every time I talk to him. He's very negative towards me, if you can believe that. He hates me. He always prophesies bad things. I love that Jehoshaphat's like, no, that can't be, right? He's like, oh, that can't be. And let me bring up a couple of points here that I think we should pay attention to. When you're living in rebellion,

godly people feel like enemies. When you're living in rebellion, godly people always feel like the enemy. Listen, I'm not talking to unbelievers right now. I'm talking to a bunch of Christians right now. And I'm here to tell you right now, as a Christian, when you're living in rebellion, really godly people feel like the enemy, right? They're the people you don't want to be around.

They're the reason why you quit going to the small group. They're the reason why you don't always want to come to church. They're the reason why you don't like to run into them at the Walmart. I don't like to run into anybody at Walmart right now because that place is hectic, but that's neither here nor there. The godly people are like, you shouldn't be mad.

And I'm like, I'm a little mad. But when you're living in rebellion, that's how you feel. You avoid those people. You avoid those people's phone calls. You avoid those people's text messages. That's who you don't want to be around. I used to always tell my kids, not my own personal kids, but my kids in my youth group, I can always tell when you're living in rebellion

because you don't answer my texts. Or you don't ever reach out to me. Like, I can tell that. I start to pick up on these things because I'm not new at life. And it becomes a situation because I'm not the person they want to be around in that moment. Because they know they're living in rebellion, and they know I'm going to ask them about their relationship with Jesus,

and they know it's not good. The second thing I'll point out to you is this, and I didn't come here to tell you this, I came up with this one myself. I think I read this one in David Guzik, but it was really good. He said, Ahab hated the messenger, but who he really hated was God. That's who his conflict was with. Ahab hated the messenger, but who he really hated was God

because that's who his conflict was with. And I need you all to know something. When you're the person that's standing for godliness, when you're the person that's standing for what's right, and you either confront someone in their sin, or just your life in general confronts them in their sin, they're probably not going to be real pleased with you. But what you need to realize is you're not their enemy.

God is. You're just his representative in that moment. I was talking to somebody the other day, and I said, I've had to learn a hard lesson, and I'm still in the process of learning it, but it's one that God keeps bringing up to me over and over again. And I said, I had to learn that as a pastor, I don't serve people. I know that sounds wrong, but follow me.

As a pastor, I don't serve people. As a pastor, I serve God. Because if I serve people, then when I have to tell you the truth and you get mad at me, then all of a sudden it's my problem, right? But if I'm serving God, and I confront you with the truth, and you get mad, I say, talk to my boss, because he's the one who told me to tell you, right? And then all of a sudden it's deflected off of me,

because it's not my problem anymore. I did what God called for me to do, because you're not really mad at me, you're really mad at God. And that's the way most people are. And this is what Ahab does right now. He's really mad at God in this moment. He's like, I don't want to listen to what he has to say, because he's going to prophesy bad things, and he's like, go get him anyway.

And so they go, and they sit on their thrones, and all the pomp and circumstance. I love what happens in the middle of this. Look, pay attention. Then Zedekiah, the son of however you say that name, made horns of iron for himself. This is one of the false prophets. Made horns of iron for himself and said, thus says the Lord, with these you will gore the Arameans until they are consumed.

And all the prophets were prophesying, thus saying, go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king. I would like when someone's willing to use props, right? And that's, that's what this Zedekiah, so they're waiting for Micaiah in this moment. Most believe that they had to go get Micaiah out of prison, because in just a minute, he's going to tell him to go back to prison, which would seem to indicate he was in prison.

Why was he probably in prison? Well, because he prophesied things that Ahab didn't like. And he's like, I'm just going to shut you up, because I don't want to hear you anymore. So while they're waiting for him to be brought out, Zedekiah makes some horns out of iron. And I don't know if he ran, I know how I pictured in my head, but that's just how I pictured in my head.

I picture him running around with some, like, stuff stuck to his head, and I don't know, that's just me. It probably didn't happen that way. I hope it did, but I don't know if it did or not. But, but more false messages are coming out. Again, I found this kind of interesting. I read this in the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It said, no matter how powerful and persuasive the messengers were,

the message was still unfaithful. No matter how powerful and persuasive the messages, the messengers were, the message was still unfaithful. Do you know what? Sometimes we substitute the faithfulness of the word for the persuasiveness of the message. We don't always pay attention to what's being said. We pay attention to how it's being said. And it's like, that's a, that's a problem.

And so I think that's why so many people are following false teaching today. I think that's why it's such a big issue is because the false teachers are usually the most dynamic, right? They're usually the most exciting to listen to. They're usually the ones that can draw the biggest crowds. Not always, but a lot of times. And the reason why they can do that is because it doesn't matter

how unfaithful the message is. It's just how persuasive the messenger can be. And Satan uses that kind of thing. We have to remember, get past the messenger and get to the message. What's being said and is it faithful? Because we don't want to substitute one for the other. So the, the prophets are prophesying and, and, uh, all of these good things are being said.

And you can just, you can just kind of picture Ahab in this moment, right? Sort of sitting there with this kind of gleeful smile on his face and, and Josh, if that's kind of going, the horns thing was a little weird, but I mean, maybe this is good. I don't know. Still kind of want to hear what Micaiah has to say. It says in verse 13, the messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, behold.

Now the words of the prophets are uniformly favorable to the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them and speak favorably. And Micaiah said, as the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I shall speak, I love it. He gets coached when he first gets there, right? So he gets, he gets, he's like, listen, here's what you need to understand.

I just brought you out of prison. You got there because you said dumb things that Ahab didn't like. Everybody's been really positive up to this point in time. Could you keep the energy going, right? Can you just say a positive thing at this point in time? There's nothing like being coached right before you get ready to speak, right? First time I ever gave any kind of a message was in Bible college and my roommate was the one that led worship.

And when I got. Ready to go up on the stage, he said, do not knock my guitar over. That was my pep talk before I went up to give my very first ever devotion in front of about 700 people. Right. And I was like, thanks for the positive encouragement, right? There's nothing quite like that. But can you imagine being Micaiah in this moment? You probably already came from prison because of the message that you just kept giving.

And you know that all of the prophets are prophesying positively. And remember how many prophets there were? Four hundred, right? That's a bunch of dudes all saying something really positive. And Ahab the king is there, the most powerful man in that area, in that region at that point in time. Not to mention the fact that the guy with the sweet name is there, too.

What's he going to do? Dude, the pressure's on in that moment. What are you going to do in the moment when somebody says, whatever you want to say, don't say that. Say what these guys are saying. Don't say what God says. Say the popular thing. Don't say what the Bible says. Say the popular thing. I'm here to tell you right now, it's a scary thing to not be up and saying,

the popular thing. I get to do it a lot. It's not awesome. It's the scariest thing that you do. To get up in front of people and say, incredibly unpopular to say, but this is what the Bible says. But you've got to do it. You've got to be true to what the Word says. Because at the end of the day, at the end of the day, all of us as believers, we have to understand something.

We speak for an audience of one. And that's the Lord. And it doesn't matter what anybody else has to say. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. It doesn't matter what anybody else's opinions are. There's only one opinion that matters at the end of the day. Did you please God? See, that's why you have to get to a place, not only as a pastor, but as any believer in Jesus Christ,

where you realize, I don't serve people. I serve God. And if you don't like the way I do it, talk to my boss. Because that's what my kid's got to do right now. All of the pressure is on. So he goes in, and this is what he says. He came to the king. When he came to the king, the king said to him, verse 15, My Achaia, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?

And he answered him, go up and succeed. The Lord will give it into the hand of the king. Oh, what did he do? Why did he say that? It feels like he just gave another false prophecy. But I want you to notice what Ahab says. He says, how many times must I tell you to speak nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? Okay. So, we don't have voice inflection in the Bible.

Don't you wish we did? Man, I wish we did. There's no voice inflection in the Bible. However, given Ahab's response, I think I can read some voice inflection into it. Right? You know what the voice inflection is? It's called sarcasm. I appreciate that sarcasm is all over the Bible. Because I like sarcasm. As a matter of fact, I always feel like with kids, I can't really communicate with a kid until they can understand sarcasm.

Otherwise, they can't understand sarcasm. They just look at me like I have no idea what I'm talking about. Teenagers do the same thing, but they know I'm being sarcastic. And so, he says, oh, yeah, go. It's going to be great. The Lord's going to deliver him into your hand. You should do this soon. And Ahab goes, dude, how many times do I have to tell you only the truth?

Only does he really want to hear the truth? No, he just wants to hear what's false in the best way possible. He doesn't want to hear the sarcasm. He doesn't want to hear that in his voice. He says, how many times do I have to tell? How many times do I have to tell you only speak the truth in the name of the Lord? Man, I don't know. Again, here it goes. So, he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep which have no shepherd.

And the Lord said, these have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, didn't I tell you he wouldn't prophesy good concerning me but evil? Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. He said, I saw the Lord. He said, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing by him on his right and on his left.

And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said this while another said that. And a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. The Lord said, how? He said, I will be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets. And he said, you are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so. Now, therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the Lord has proclaimed disaster upon you.

Man, it's like stuff just got real, right? Like the bone-chilling silence in the room was probably palpable. And he says, you can just imagine him going from this, like, sarcastic look on his face to, I saw all Israel like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord just told them all to go home. In other words, what he said was, the king of Israel is about to die.

He just prophesied the death of Ahab. He said, I told you he wouldn't say anything good. He's like, ah, but not only that, I got something else I got to tell you. He said that all the spirits were gathered around God. Now, I believe that in this moment, Micaiah actually had a vision of heaven. You know why I think in this moment he had a vision of heaven? Because it feels like when anyone is going to be faithful to serve the Lord,

when anyone is going to be faithful to serve the Lord, when anyone is going to be faithful to declare the truth, God reveals himself in a way that has never been seen before. I want you to think all the way forward into the book of Acts, when Stephen is about to be stoned to death by all of the people who are about to kill him. And do you remember what he saw? He saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father.

Because when you're willing to make a stand for God, he will reveal himself in ways you couldn't even imagine. He said, I saw heaven open. I saw everybody gathered around God. And all the spirits were coming forward. And God said, how am I going to entice him into battle? And everybody kept coming up with ideas. And this one spirit finally came forward and said, I have an idea.

He said, what's your idea? He said, I'll put a deceiving spirit in their mouth. And God said, go. Now, I have a question mark next to that verse in my Bible. I don't know if you do or not. You probably should. Because you should probably ask yourself a question right now. Why would God use a deceiving spirit? That feels opposite of the character and the nature of God.

It doesn't feel like any spirit that would be that way would ever be able to come into the presence of God. But I want to remind you. I want to remind you of a couple of things. If we were to jump into the book of Job, what do we see happens in the beginning of the book of Job? It says that they all presented themselves to the Lord. And one of them was Satan.

Because we find that Satan can't move. Satan can't act. Satan can't do anything without the permission of God. Right? That poem, Paradise Lost, is amazing. When Satan says, if I can't rule in heaven, then I'll rule in hell. Only to find out that he's being ruled in hell. So he still has to come before God. And so this evil spirit comes and says, I know how to do it.

I'll put a lying spirit in the mouth of a prophet. And God says, go. And here's my answer to that question. The question mark that's in my Bible and hopefully the question mark that's in your Bible is we need to realize something. God uses whoever and whatever he will to do his will. God uses whoever and whatever he will to do his will. When we jump into the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah, which is going to take us a very long time to get to. When we jump into the book of Isaiah, we find that God calls by name a specific Gentile pagan king by the name of Cyrus. And he says, he calls him his servant. He says, my servant, Cyrus, who will go forward and do my will. Because God uses whoever and whatever he wants. When you get to the book of Habakkuk, you find that Habakkuk is going, Lord, when are you going to bring judgment?

Like the place is kind of going a little crazy right now. Why aren't you going to do something? And God says, listen, if I told you what I was going to do, you'd drop your drawers right now, right? Like you'd make a mess in your pants. And he says, no, no, I can handle it. Tell me what you're going to do. And God says, I'm going to bring judgment. Only I'm going to do it through the Babylonians.

And he's like, dude, we're bad, but they're really bad. Why would you use those people? Why would you use them to do your will? Because God will use whoever and whatever he wants to do his will. And we can just rest in that. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. He says, go. So the Lord sent forth a deceiving spirit into the mouth of the prophets.

And I wish you knows what happens in verse 24. Zedekiah, the son of that guy, came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, how the spirit of the Lord passed from me to speak to you, speaking of sarcasm. Micaiah said, behold, you shall see on that day when you enter an inner room to hide yourself. The king of Israel said, take Micaiah. and return him to Ammon, the governor of the city,

to Joash, the king's son, and say, thus says the king, put this man in prison and feed him sparingly with bread and water until I return safely. Micaiah said, if you indeed return safely, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he said, listen, all you people. I love it. This Zedekiah, right, the metal horns guy, he slaps him and he says, oh, how did the spirit of the Lord do that?

Kind of mocking him. And he said, oh, you'll find out when you're hiding in an inner room, hiding for your life. It's like, oh, slap back, right? That's pretty good. He says, all right, take him to prison until we return safely. And he says, listen, if you return safely, it wasn't the Lord that spoke to me. You're not returning safely. I guess I'm gonna be spending a lot of time in prison.

And I wanna just say one more thing about this. And that's that it takes really bold faith to declare something great and then absolutely expect it to happen. It takes really boldness and bold faith to declare something like that and then expect it to happen. I was actually pondering this a lot the past couple of days and going, I don't know if I have that kind of faith.

I don't always know if I have the bold enough faith to be like, this is what's gonna happen. And you know what? Put me in prison because I believe it so much that it won't matter what you say. This is gonna happen. I actually started praying this week for just a little bit more faith along those lines because I wanna have that kind of bold faith to where I make bold declarations,

not because of me, but because that's what God's told me. Because I'm in tune with the spirit of God and I'm bold enough to say, I don't just think this is gonna happen. I know this is gonna happen. Well, that's what Micaiah does. Well, now it's time for the battle. The defeat of Ahab. It says in verse 29, so the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah,

went up against Ramoth Gilead. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into battle. Now the king of Aram had commanded the 32 captains of his chariots saying, don't fight with small or great, but with the king of Israel alone. So when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat,

they said, surely it is the king of Israel, and they turned aside to fight him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. When the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king, and they turned back from pursuing him. So as much wisdom as Jehoshaphat had by saying, we should seek the Lord first, and we should, we should make sure that it's a prophet of the Lord we're listening to, that sort of gets offset by this moment right now.

Like they're getting ready to go into battle, two kings, right? And Ahab, who was just told he's going to be killed, in battle says, I'm going to go ahead and wear just average dude clothes, okay? So nobody really knows I'm the king. Why don't you go ahead and wear your not average guy clothes, and make yourself look like the king? That feels like the right thing to do in this situation.

And Jehoshaphat wasn't like, that feels like the wrong thing for me to do. No, he was like, sweet, I'm in. Somebody get me the crown, right? So he's dressed up like the king. And who's the person that's supposed to be killed in battle? The king. You know what I'm not dressing as that day? I'm not showing up to school as a king that day, right? I'm showing up as average kid.

That's what he does. And so they go out into battle. Meanwhile, with the Arameans, the king is like, dude, only kill one guy, right? I don't care who else dies in this battle. I just want Ahab dead. So they go after Jehoshaphat, because shockingly, they think he's the king that they're supposed to kill, right? Only Jehoshaphat cries out. And in other, and in second Chronicles,

we're told he cries out to the Lord. And as a matter of fact, well, I'll get to that in just a moment. And so he cries out to the Lord. And when he cries out to the Lord, and I always wonder what it was about Jehoshaphat's cry that made them go, that's not Ahab. I think it's because he cried out to the Lord. And however he cried out to the Lord, let them know that's not the idol worshiper we're used to being around.

Because his prayer, was so different than anything Ahab would have done. And at a beautiful moment, wouldn't it be beautiful to know that your relationship with the Lord would so set you apart from everybody else that they would know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that guy belongs to God. And that's what it was with, with Jehoshaphat, I believe. Can't prove it scripturally, but that's what I think happened there.

And so, so he cries out to the Lord and they saw that it was not Ahab. And so they turn from pursuing him. And it feels like, in this moment, maybe Ahab's gonna get away with this. Maybe he has hidden himself well enough that he's not gonna be killed because they can't find the king. Notice what happens in verse 34 though. Now a certain man drew his bow at random and he struck the king of Israel in a joint of the armor.

So he said to the driver of his chariot, turn around and take me out of the fight for I am severely wounded. And the battle raged that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot in front of the Arameans. And he died at evening and the blood from the wound ran into the bottom of the chariot and a cry passed throughout the army close to sunset, saying every man to his city and every man to his country. So the king died and was brought to Samaria and they buried the king in Samaria and they washed the chariot by the pool.

They washed the blood out of the chariot by the pool of Samaria and the dogs licked up his blood. It is the place where the harlots bathe according to the word of the Lord. Which he spoke. Ahab thought he had hidden himself. He thought he had taken every precaution possible to insulate himself from the judgment of God. But it didn't need to be that there was some amazing battle plan against him because quite frankly when God has determined something,

he's pretty good at making it happen. I love the wording of that verse. Now a certain man, we're not even told who it was, drew his bow at random and he struck him between the joints of the armor. Everything about that would feel like the greatest coincidence ever. Except that God was in control of it. Some random guy took some random shot that just happened to be the money shot that went right between the scales of the armor in order to pierce him.

Brothers and sisters, we need to know something. You can hide from everybody else in the world. You can't hide from God. You can hide from anything else in the world. But you can't hide from God. Because his arrow is on you. And your arrow will always find its mark. And that's what happens with Ahab here. So they drive Ahab out of the battle in his chariot.

And as he comes to the end he sort of watches the battle the rest of the time. And Israel is being defeated and finally he dies. And did you notice what it said? The cry, verse 36, passed throughout the army close to sunset saying, Every man to his city and every man to his country. I want you to look back over at verse 17 real quick. It says, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep with no shepherd.

And the Lord said, These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace. Exactly as God said it would happen. I wonder what happened when word came back to Micaiah. In prison eating a scant amount of bread and water. Going well at least the word of God was correct. Well at least the word of God was correct. So they took his chariot and it says that they washed it out.

And it's interesting the imagery that's used by the two things in that verse. Let me read it to you again. Verse 38 it says, They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria. And the dogs licked up its blood. That's where the harlots bathed themselves there. Everything about that verse is an indication of the uncleanness of the land at that point in time. The dogs were referred to as unclean and so were prostitutes.

And so Ahab died amongst all of the unclean just like he had lived. And so we're told the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did. And the ivory house which he built and all the cities which he built. Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Ahab slept with his fathers. And so now we move on. The end of 1 Kings. 1 Kings will give us some new leadership that we'll pay much more attention to in 2 Kings.

But this will paint the picture for us. It says, Now Jehoshaphat the son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he became king. And he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azuba the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father. And he did not turn aside from it.

Doing right in the sight of the Lord. However the people still sacrificed and burned him. And he was exalted in the highest places. Jehoshaphat also made peace with the kings of Israel. And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat in his might which he showed and how he warred. Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Which is actually 2 Chronicles.

We will get to it eventually. But it's interesting to note that according to 2 Chronicles 18 and 19. This battle was a real turning point in Jehoshaphat's life. Like he had followed God. And as a matter of fact I think the specific verse in 2 Chronicles 19.4. Shows that after this battle there was a wholehearted turning to the Lord. Jehoshaphat will go on to bring about great reforms.

Let me read you one more thing. It says in verse 46. The remnant of the Sodomites. Or the cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa. He also expelled from the land. And so he did some fantastic things. As a matter of fact it's going to tell us in 2 Chronicles. That he actually sent people throughout the land. To teach people the law. To teach people what they needed to know about following God.

So a pretty fantastic king. Again his biggest issue was the alliances that he made. We are going to read about one of those real quick. It says in verse 47. Now there was no king in Edom. A deputy was king. Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold. But they did not go. For the ships were broken at Ezeon Geber. And Jehoshaphat said to the king.

He said to the king. He said to the king. Again that was an alliance that he made with a king. That he shouldn't have. And God ultimately had to do away with that. But then the king of the north was this. Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab. Said to Jehoshaphat. Let my servants go with your servants in the ships. Jehoshaphat was not willing. He slept with his fathers.

And was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David. And Jehoram his son became king in his place. Ahaziah the son of Ahab. Became king over Israel in Samaria. In the 17th year of Jehoshaphat. King of Judah. And he reigned two years over Israel. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. And walked in the way of his father. And in the way of his mother.

And in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebad. Who caused Israel to sin. He served Baal. And he worshiped him. And he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger. According to all that his father had done. So again. Jehoshaphat's greatest weakness. Was the alliances that he made. And then of course we come to Ahaziah. Evil king reigned two years. In a couple of weeks.

In 2 Kings. About both Jehoshaphat and the sons of Ahab. And the ultimate judgment that comes. But I want to close out with this. I want to close out with a final thought here. Do you realize. That in Ahab's life there were three different predictions of his death. Three different prophecies of his death. One was in chapter 20. One was in chapter 21. Where he had slight repentance.

But not enough really to prevent it. And then the other one was in chapter 2. That would indicate to me. That it's really really important. To pay attention to God's warnings in our lives. Can we all agree with that? Because in chapter 20 he was warned. Hey listen. You did not do what God called for you to do. Therefore you're going to die. And then in chapter 21.

It was told not only will you die. But all of your family is going to die. And it's going to be the most horrific thing possible. And in that moment. In that moment when that prophecy was given. And God said. Elijah don't you see how he's humbled himself before me. He said. Therefore this will not take place in his lifetime. The destruction of his family. Would not take place in his lifetime.

And because of that mercy that God was willing to show Ahab. I still believe. That if in chapter 22. If when that prophecy came. If he had fully repented. And fully turned to the Lord. That God wouldn't have shown mercy to him. That perhaps God would have been willing to forgive him. And I know that. I know it because of the character and nature of God. That's seen throughout all the rest of scripture.

And I tell us that brothers and sisters. Because sometimes God brings warnings to us. Doesn't he? He sees us in areas in our life. Where we are not following God the way that we should. And he sends warnings to us. Sometimes he'll send us that warning through his word. Sometimes he'll send us that warning through circumstances. That takes place in our life.

But usually what he does. Is he sends us that warning through good friends. Who are willing to tell us the truth. Who love us enough. To be honest with us. And we'll have a choice to make in that moment. We will either heed the warning. Or we will deal with the consequences. Hopefully the consequences won't be like what Ahab had to deal with. So far in my life that's not been the case.

When I don't heed the warnings. But there still have been consequences. Because that's the choice that we have to make. Heed the warning that God has in our lives. Amen. Father we come to you now. And Lord I thank you for these stories of the Old Testament as always. I just love them so much. Not only are they fascinating to read Lord. But they teach us so much about who you are.

And they teach us about who we need to be. Things that we should not do. Things that we should pursue with all of our hearts. And so Lord. May we be men and women. Who are always willing to hear the truth. Who are always willing to tell the truth. Who are always willing to act on the truth. Lord may you do that work in our hearts. And in our lives. In Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. Be blessed.