All right, good morning, man. It's been, I feel like I've, I
started this series years ago and, and I actually should think
I counted like 6 * 6 weeks that I've, I haven't done it.
And so we're six weeks behind and we're only on less than 6.
I had to look that up. I was like, wow, we haven't gone
very far at all. So I, I figured today I kind of
remind you what we're doing because some of us may not even
remember we're going over the kings of Israel.
And, and that's mainly after the division.
And I actually made or well found in one of my Bibles, the
timeline that kind of gives you an indication and a good reason
of how, how things overlapped. Some of them that I, I think is
the most interesting is I don't have it.
Anyways, so we've gone from King Solomon and we moved to Rehoboam
and Jeroboam split and that's when the Kingdom split into the
northern tribe, which has how many tribes?
OK, we're going to interact here this morning.
We're going to wake up how many 1010 tribes and how many are
left in the southern tribe? 2 The northern Kingdom is called
no Israel and the southern Kingdom is called Judah.
And, and what, what do we know about the northern Kingdom and
all their kings? They were all great happy people
that followed God. No, they were all evil, wicked
men in the southern is Judah had here and there miss and match of
kings and the one of the things that I really like is seeing how
some of the prophets kind of go together like if we're in a
timeline. If you look, I went the wrong
way. Oh, well, think of Daniel and
you have Jeremiah and stuff and you think, OK, that's one book.
And this book, they were all alive at the same time.
Obadiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, they were all alive at
the same time, working for God at the same time and, and
getting messages from God and, and, and you wonder, did they
write back and forth? Hey, Daniel, I, I read that
book. You man, I really appreciate
what you're doing. God, God's with.
Hey, Ezekiel, man, I, I read that, I don't know, but I have a
feeling that they talked to each other, that they, they had
interactions with each other. But just to kind of give you an
overview of how it looks where we're at.
And, and today we're going to switch because so far we've only
looked at the kings of Judah and, and seeing them from ASA,
Raya, Boehm, Abaija, Jehoshaphat.
And today we're actually going to get into the if we say the
worst king that you know of that you you can think of quickly
that is a wicked and the most wicked man and and has the worst
wicked wife, who would you say? Ahab?
So we're just going to get out of that Ahab.
We're going to look at the king Ahab.
And it's it's amazing that of all of the kings, if somebody
like I just did said who would be sinning, that word does not
cinnamon synonymous for a wicked king or sin, then you can
obviously quickly go Ahab. And the same thing goes with his
wife Jezebel. And we look here, go ahead and
turn to 1st Kings 16, first Kings 16.
And we're going to look at kind of, I don't want to give Ahab a
pass, but I want to see why, what, what, what got him on the
path that he went, where, where did Ahab go wrong?
And I think a lot of it has to do with his father and, and
those that came before him. Obviously he had to make his own
choices and he and he chose and we'll look at a lot of bad
choices that he made and a lot of issues that came up because
of those choices. But we have to remember Ahab was
influenced just like you and I are influenced as Christians.
He was a child of God. He was a part of the Israelites.
He was a part of the nation God called out.
And yet we know him not as a king that honored God and
followed God, but that did wickedly and did abominable
things to God in the face of God.
And we think of Elijah. Yes, Elijah is around in that
time and we think of how famous of a prophet that Elijah and
Elijah are and and and Micah and those Elijah.
God brought him into the scene for Ahab.
Even though how wicked Ahab was, how wicked and everything he
took that nation in the northern tribes, God gave him somebody to
try to pull him back. Try to go, I'm not giving up on
you nation. I'm, I'm not, I'm not giving up
on my people. I want to see my people come
back to me. And he gives him Elijah and he
gives him Mica and, and unfortunately, Ahab doesn't
listen. And soon the the influence that
Ahab has around him turns into him influencing the nation.
Now it's interesting. What, what do we say usually
about kings that are wicked? How long of a span of a rain do
they have? Very long or very short?
Usually short. Ahab actually had over 20 years
and, and it's interesting, usually chapters go very quickly
when when they talk about wicked kings.
Ahab has over 7 chapters in first Kings about him and about
his activities and everything that happened.
And, and I want to look at why do we know him as the sinful, as
the wicked king? What, what did he do
specifically? And you can think of in your
mind Nabetz Nabel's Vineyard and, and you think about we
talked about last time when he, when he went to war and brought
Jehoshaphat with him and the, the lead, the alliance that they
had and, and he's, and he gave his daughter to Mary,
Jehoshaphat's son, and, and everything that came from that.
But what about Ahab made him wicked?
What choices did he make that made him and the nation that he
was ruling go down the wrong path and, and made him an
infamous king, the sinful, wicked King Ahab.
Let's pray and we'll get into the lesson.
Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your word and
preserving it for us for all eternity and, and giving us not
just good examples of how we should live and how we should
treat others and how we should serve you, but also you kept the
ones that weren't so great, the ones that were totally wicked
and, and against you and against everything that you stand for.
And you did that to keep us, give us examples of, of lives
that we have a choice to live. We can either live for you or
against you. And I got, I pray that you open
our eyes as we look at King Ahab, that you've that you set
up, you put in place to rule your Kingdom in the north and
what you tried to do and the decisions that he did in his
life. I just pray that you open our
eyes to have what each and everyone of us need from your
word this morning in Jesus name I pray Amen.
So as I said, look at verse you're there in chapter 16.
Look at verse 23 is where we're going to start in the 30 and
first year of ASA king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel
12 years six years reigned he and Tizza and he brought the and
he bought the hill Samaria of Shermer for two talents of
silver and built on the hill and called the name of the city
which he built after the name of Shermer owner of the hill
Samaria. Look at verse 25, but Omri
wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord and did worse than all that
were before him. This was Ahab's father, although
you know, we, we inherit sinful nature from Adam and from our
our parents and it's passed on generation and generation.
Ahab had a wicked father that the Bible says in verse 25
wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord and did worse than all that
were before him. And it's it seems that we could
like copy that look down verse. Let's get skip down to verse 30.
So we we said Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord and did
worse than all them were that were before him.
And verse 30 and Ahab, the son of Omri did evil in the sight of
the Lord above all that were before him.
Ahab had an inheritance that was not that great, that the
influence of his father was so strong that the Bible records
almost the exact same wording for both of them.
They were, they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they were
worse than those before him. OK, let's see what his son does.
He did evil in the sight of the Lord and did worse than all
before him. Just like Pastor always says,
whatever you do in moderation, your, your children will do in
excess, you, you as a parent, that you as an older generation
have an influence on the next generation and how they will
react and, and live their life. And we can see that specifically
in this life of Ahab, he had a father that didn't want anything
to do with the Lord, didn't want to follow any precepts, anything
of the law. And because of that, Ahab is
brought up that way and, and we can almost go, why are, why are
you surprised? Ahab turned the way he did?
But what it's he, he had the, the, the example of a father of
a king that he had in front of him.
He made-up exactly the same way. And we shouldn't be surprised,
just like you shouldn't be surprised of the lost and what
they do and, and, and the sin they get into and the wickedness
they get into. And you go, man, how can you do?
The Bible says they're of their father, the devil and of their
father. They will do.
Don't be surprised. The wicked do the wicked things.
But remember, you have an influence over people.
You have the way you live your life will influence the younger
generation. And we see that in in Ahab's
father and moved to his son. But not only was his influence
from his father strong, it was serious.
Look at verse 26, there in chapter 16, talking about his
father Omri. For he walked in all the ways of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in all and in his sin wherewith he
made Israel to sin to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger
with their vanities. He He he walked in the exact
same sin that caused the whole thing to prop to split.
What why did why did Jeroboam and you'll see this and if you
read ahead and we've read other kings that phrase that he walked
in all the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat that what is he
talking about? He's talking about Jeroboam
didn't want to lose the northern Kingdom because where was the
temple? Jerusalem.
Where did they go to worship Jerusalem?
Oh, well, hold on. That's not in my territory
anymore. I got to have something for my
people to worship. I have to do something to keep
them here, because if they're going to travel all the way down
to Jerusalem, I'm going to lose them.
I have to keep my my, my Kingdom here.
So he sets up two golden calves. Why like you would go wait, hold
on Moses and Aaron just tried that.
That didn't work. Well, why why do we pick a calf
anyways? But he sets up 1 and band and
and one now I can't remember some No, it wasn't Samaria yet.
Anyways, he he sets up two and a golden calf to to have an idol
and to to worship it. And all throughout the rest of
the kings, you'll see that phrase that they walked and they
did and LED the people in all the way of Jeroboam, the son of
Nebat talking about those golden calfs that idol worship was the
focus. And Omri does that.
But then look down at verse 33, OK, that that's his father,
that's Omri, and he he provokes the Lord God of Israel to anger.
Look at verse 33 about Ahab. And Ahab did more to provoke the
Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that
were before him as his father and son both abused God's
long-suffering because God doesn't bring Babylon until
many, many years later. God is long-suffering and that's
why we see Elijah and Elijah and, and all the other prophets
that God sends. But the anger of the Lord was
stirred against them. And, and really the, the
question for us to consider with an influence and, and dealing
with a father and a son is what kind of pattern of behavior are
you leaving and setting for those that are coming behind
you? Are you, are you in a pattern of
daily reading your work, your Bible and they seeing it?
I think that's something that we we forget.
Yes, I have, I have my devotions every morning.
Do your kids know you do? Oh, they might know.
Dad probably does. Mom, I think does, I'm sure she
does. But there's an there's an
influence you're missing as a parent.
If they're not seeing you do it. Not because we're trying to look
at look at me, look at what I do, but it means more when you
see it, the children will see that you're the next generation
will see man. There's something he doesn't
just tell me to go do my devotions.
I see him do his devotions. I see him pray.
He doesn't just tell me to act a certain way.
I watch my dad or I watch my mom or I watch the the older man at
church do this. Just like all throughout the Old
Testament are signs and throughout the Old Testament we
see God tells them, they cross, they cross the Jordan River on
dry ground and what does God have them do?
They take up stones and put them in the middle and then standing
stones on the outside. Why?
Because God wanted the younger generation to be able to see
something and go what meanest thou these?
What? What's the point of this?
Sadly, Ahab had an influence in a seeing of what his dad was
like as a Kingdom, as a wicked king, and that pattern of
behavior just went in excess. So we see the influence that his
dad had over him, but then we see Ahab's chooses himself, but
his own iniquity there. Look at verse 30 And we read
this and Ahab, the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the
Lord above all that were before him.
Ahab sin. We could say it is is three-way,
three-way deep. I guess I'll say it the first
way is he sinned against the will of God.
Look there in verse 31. And it came to pass, as if it
had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of
Ethball, king of the Zaidonians, and went and served Baal and
worshipped him. Now if you remember back in
Deuteronomy, who, who were the children of Israel supposed to
marry? The other Israelites?
Who were they not supposed to marry?
The everybody else, the wicked, the the Canaanites?
And in this this fact, Ahab specifically doesn't look for a
wife in his own tribe, in his own nation.
He finds one that specifically goes against what God says to go
after for a wife. So so we see him going totally
against what the will of God was for the children of Israel.
Keep your finger at first Kings 16 turn to 1st Kings 21 and you
say, well, I mean, it's a wife. He could still choose to do what
he wants to do and he's the king and and he can choose to have
like Solomon many wives. What's the point of it?
Why? Why does it matter who you
choose to marry and and choosing somebody that is in the will of
God for you. Look at verse 25 of chapter 21.
But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to
work with goodness in the sight of the Lorem inside of the Lord.
And here's the key phrase whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up.
Why did a lot of the wickedness happened?
Because that influence of his wife.
Who you choose to marry is very important, who God has for you.
And I believe God has a will for every single person, whether it
is to get married or not get married.
But if you're if God's will is for you to get married and that
person is in the will of God, they will influence you for God.
But if you choose to do your own thing and get out of the will of
God and not decide to follow after what God has chosen and
decided what what a mate should be like.
And you get out of that will of God, that person will influence
you and turn you, as the Bible says, stirred him up to do
wickedly and to serve not God. Bail.
Jezebel was moving the nation in a almost like in a Fast forward
motion into the total opposite direction.
And and really we see Baal worship a little bit here and
there. But when Jezebel and Ahab get on
the scene, they like Fast forward into the jump, headlong
into it. And so much so that Ahab sets up
and builds temples for Baal. Not that they were there before,
but he specifically builds them for Baal worship.
And also, if we looked at this the last time Jehoshaphat's son
gets married to Jezebel's daughter and that influence we
looked at is she tries to wipe out the entire lineage of date
of of David because of that wicked out of the will marriage.
So be careful who you who you allow yourself to be with who
you allow yourself to marry who you allowed to be influencing
you because as as quickly as you think you are an influencer.
I hate that word because of today's culture.
But as soon as you feel like you're influencing somebody
else, most likely they're influencing you more than the
other way. So be careful as who you are.
So as sin went against the will of God, but it also get one
against the man of God. Look there in verse, stay in
chapter 21. Look at verse 20 talking about
throughout Ahab's life, we see the the you know, the most
famous prophet that we know of during his time was Elijah and
how closely those two lives were intertwined.
And look at verse 20 of chapter 21.
And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O my best friend,
my enemy? He considered the man of God to
be his enemy. Looked go a little further,
chapter 22, verse 8. And this is and the king of
Israel, Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, this is when they
were going together to go to war.
And Jehoshaphat says, hey, let's, let's find a prophet and
find out if we should do this. And Ahab first goes, well, let's
let me bring my prophets. And they all told him what he
wanted to hear. And just Jehoshaphat said, wait,
let's find somebody, a prophet of the Lord in verse 8.
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, and you almost hear
and go, he sighs, There is yet one man, Micah, the son of Imla,
by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he
does not prophecy good concerning me, but evil.
And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so.
So think of it this way. If you get so far in your, in
your life that you become an enemy of the man of God and you
are going against the will of God, it's pretty easy to say
you're not where you should be. You're, you're, you're not on
God's will for your life, but not only did he go sin against
the will of God and the man of God, we can see that he sins
against the word of God verse chapter 21.
Go back to 21 and we let's see. Well, we'll just start in verse
1 real quick. And it came to pass after these
things, that Naboth the Jesuit Jezreite, had a vineyard, which
was in Jezreel hard by the place of Ahab, king of Samaria.
And Ahab spake unto Naboth, and saying, Give me thy vineyard,
that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near
unto my house, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard
than it. Or if it seemed good to thee, I
will give thee the worth of it in money.
Now when we first read that, we just think, OK, he just there's
a garden next to his house and it's close.
So he's like, hey, instead of me gardening way over here, I'll
just buy this one. And we think very innocently
about that. But in when, when Joshua brought
the king, the the Israelites into the promised land, God told
them to never sell land outside of their family.
It was supposed to stay within the tribes.
Dan's area was always supposed to be Dan's area, whether it
went from Uncle Dan to brother Dan or to whatever other day.
And it was supposed to stay in that tribe.
It was never supposed to become a Benjamites.
It was never supposed to become a Levites or someone from Judah.
It was always supposed to be within that tribe.
And we see that. Why did Naboth say no?
I mean, the king is asking for David comes and asks for the
threshing floor and he says, I'll give it to you.
And David says no, I will not take something and sacrifice the
God that doesn't cost me something.
And he buys the threshing floor. And so you think, OK, the king
is going to buy my land, I'm going to make a profit off of
this one. But Naboth says no.
Why does he say no? He says no because I'm looking
at chapter 16 trying to find the verse that's a problem.
Thank you. Chapter 21 verse 3 and Naboth
said to Ahab, the Lord forbid it me that it that I should give
the inheritance of my father's unto thee.
Ahab knew what God said. Naboth reminds Ahab God said do
not sell land to another tribe, but Ahab goes totally against
what God has said in his word to do to deal with Landon.
And sad thing is how many of us are like Ahab when we sin by
acting against the will of God, by speaking against the man of
God and going against what the word of God says.
Oh you know, I just I'm tired. I'm not going to show up for
Sunday school. I'll be there for Sunday night.
That's against what the word of God says.
I know that movie has some profanity and some stuff in it,
but overall it's pretty good. It's against what the word of
God says. I know God said that I should
marry a Christian woman and, and somebody that follows what the
Bible says, but this lady looks really pretty and she's really
nice. And, and, and you're out of the
will of God. And when you start adding these
things together, we see how easy it is for Ahab to get from going
with what the Lord wanted to, to being known as the wickedest
king and going against what God wanted in all areas, the will of
God, the man of God and the word of God.
And we have to be careful not to follow his footsteps.
The other thing we see is his idolatry.
Turn back to chapter 16. Jeroboam like I said introduced
the whole idea of idolatry with the the the 2 golden calves and
and Ahab part part pattern himself exactly like Jay
Jeroboam did there in verse 31. And it came to pass as it if had
been a light thing for him to walk in the the sins of
Jeroboam, the son of Nebe. He he already knew what was
right and wrong. And yet he decides that idolatry
is going to be the way it was. And he first starts there in
verse 31 with the bad association.
I, I, I'm, I'm not just not looking for a Christian wife.
I'm looking for a wife that is into total wickedness serving
another false cult God of Baal. And not just am I going to marry
somebody that is just a follower, I'm going to marry the
priests daughter of the follower of Baal.
Just like Solomon did when he started having many many wives
and the Bible says that they turned the heart of Solomon
again away from God. Jezebel had the same effect on
Ahab. Yes, Ahab was wicked already, no
doubt about that. But Jezebel turned it quicker
for him. But not only did he have the
wrong associates to to follow after God, but he did the wrong
activities. Look there.
Verse. Yeah.
Oh wow, we'll skip that. We'll keep going.
Verse Look at verse 32 and he reared up an altar for bail in
the House of bail which he had built in Samaria.
A have moved from personally worshipping a false God to
making it a national thing. It wasn't enough that I'm going
to do what I want to do. It's I'm going to take everybody
else into wickedness and and we think, think of Eve, how quickly
she went from being influenced by the serpent and being enticed
to to eat the fruit. The Bible look, go real quick
Genesis 3 and we kind of read this and just go over it and,
and just, you know, it is what it is.
Chapter 3, Verse 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good
for food, and then it was pleasant to the eyes, and the
tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat. OK God, Satan deceived Eve and
she ate of the fruit. But what happens right after
that? She eats the fruit and then and
gave also one to her husband with her and he did eat think
think of think of how quickly the seduced became the seducer.
Adam had a choice, just like Eve had a choice and but but Satan
tempted Eve and we just read that Eve gave it to her husband
and gay and he just OK. I don't think it was that quick
of a decision for Adam. I think it was a listen, I it's,
it's so good. You'd have no idea how this good
this tastes. We just got back from Belize and
having a freshly squeezed pineapple juice.
You have no idea how good it is. And it comes in about a cottage
cheese canister tub and and I could have had like 8 of them.
But anyways, that's seducing, that's enticing.
I I just sinned. I just failed and fell.
I'm going to take somebody with me.
And how quickly it went from being a seduced person to being
seducing themselves. And Ahab does the same thing,
not only quickly getting seduced and getting into false worship
of Baal by his wife, but he raises up a temple and an altar
for it to bring others with him. And we have to be very careful
that we don't follow in those footsteps.
It's very easy for us to get influenced by people around us.
And then as soon as we either A realize we're doing wrong or B,
just enjoy sin, it's so quickly for us to go, Hey, did you watch
this? Oh man, it's so good.
It doesn't have great words it, but the plotline is really good.
And it's so quickly for us to slide that direction.
But the last thing I want to look at is what he dealt with as
king because of his sin. Look, turn to chapter 18 and
we'll be done real quick. I hope.
A lot of the issues that Ahab went through were because of his
sin. Think of what is the the biggest
thing that you think of with Elijah and Ahab?
The the the biggest contention huh OK, second biggest then in
your mind what did what did same time point though What why did
they do that? What did Elijah say that wasn't
going to happen. No rain that's a problem.
As a king I got to have rain for my people to grow food and to do
all this. But the Bible says there verse
chapter 18 look at no where is it at?
I can't find it. Elijah tells them,
yes, thank you. Chapter 18, verse 18 Elijah
tells Ahab and he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but
thou in thy father's house, and that ye have forsaken the
commandments of the Lord, and thou has followed Balaam.
Ahab's whole issue was his sin and so, so many times throughout
our lives. How many times are you into
trouble and in problems caused because of your own sin?
It wasn't if if Ahab was doing right and following the Lord
wouldn't have been a famine, would have been a time of no
rain. But because of that sin and that
that that angering of the Lord, we see unnecessary labor,
unnecessary death, unnecessary fill in the blank of work and
everything Ahab had to deal with.
And why was he mad at Elijah Because he was the one that said
no rain. If if he was walking right, he
probably would have been friends with Elijah.
But because of his sin and and so many times we go through this
life and we wonder why am I going through this?
Why do I got to deal with this better check and make sure it's
not sin that you you did that brought this on to you.
The life of Ahab is a lesson on on really like the the power of
what influence is on a young man and what an influence is when he
gets older. And and we have to remind
ourselves that our war, our works follow what that kind of
influence does with us. Ahab's name is always linked
with sin and wickedness. And the Proverbs 22 says a good
name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor
rather than silver or gold. Ahab's name is in Jezebel's name
is associated with wickedness. Let's not be and let's not live
a life that that our parents, our friends, our family, look at
your name and you and your life and not associate it with
wickedness. But to be able to see that the
influence that you give out is trying to bring people to God.
It's trying to get people on the will of God because we have the
same choice that they have had. Oh yes, he might have had a bad
in the first influence on his life.
Maybe you had the same thing growing up.
You didn't have godly parents. But we all have the choice to
make whether we're going to follow after God or follow away
from God. Christians, not Christians, we
all have that choice and as quickly as we throw Ahab under
the bus and go man, a wicked king, be sure not to find
yourself in the same boat because it's very easy to fall
into that same thing. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word and the
promises and the truths from it, Lord, that you've preserved for
us to be able to take and not just read, but to to study and
to to put into practice into our own lives.
Lord, I just, I pray that you help us to as we go through the
the rest of these kings that we realize, yes, we're not kings
and we're not over nations, but they were men just like us.
They, they had the same choices that we have and they they chose
some well and some wrong. And God, I just pray that you
help us to see the the necessity to look through your word before
we make choices so we can make choices that please you.
I thank you again for all that you do.
I pray that you be with pastor, fill him with your spirit as he
comes to the next hour. Give us a good rest of the day
here in your house. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
You're dismissed.