First Kings chapter 20 Please meet me in verse 22.
And the king of Israel went out and struck the horses and
Chariots and struck the Syrians with a great blow.
This summary of Ahab's miraculous and quite frankly
undeserved victory over the Syrian invasion is located in
First Kings chapter 20, verse 21, which was where we ended our
study last week. Nevertheless, that narration of
Ahab's victory is not the final thought of this chapter, nor is
it the signal for the end of the conflict between Ahab, king of
Israel, and Ben Haddad, the king of Syria.
When we come to verse 22 and read it, we will quickly learn
that the Spirit of God has provided for us a banquet of
sanctifying truths that are still connected to the themes
that you and I explored last week.
Prepared for you and I are yet more glistening gems of the
grace of God, sobering warnings of particular sins that we tend
to overlook. Fascinating observations
concerning what man is capable of in their sin, what man can
achieve in their obedience to God and who God is in our
obedience or lack of obedience. And there are other fresh
insights that await to be discovered.
So I encourage you tonight come with excitement as you and I
continue to tour through this passage of Scripture and trust
of the Holy Spirit will guide us perfectly to glean from what I
believe is not really touched on much even in a a study for first
kings. So I want us to read 22 and
pause right there at 22. If you haven't been following
us, we archive everything. Everything is on YouTube.
You can you can track with us at another time, but hopefully
where we're going to start off will make sense to you.
Verse 22 reads, Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel
and said to him, Come, strengthen yourself and consider
well what you have to do, for in the spring the king of Syria
will come up against you. This prophet is very likely to
be the same unnamed messenger that we were introduced to in
verse 13 of this very same chapter where this man of God
approached Ahab and assured him, gave him a promise and a plan of
how they can no victory over the Syrian coalition.
And we concluded that the appearance of this prophet in
verse 13 is nothing short of a wonderful demonstration of the
grace of God. Since Ahab, who was a very
wicked king, did not seek the Lord at all, did not inquire of
a prophet, and there were thousands of prophets in the
land of his time, He didn't do anything.
And yet God granted heavenly wisdom nonetheless.
And the shocking grace of God appears once more at this very
moment. Here we see that this prophet
came near to the king of Israel and warned him.
And why this is merciful on God's part is because there is a
unique vulnerability that you and I enter into, especially
after we experience A level of success, even spiritual success.
I'm reading my devotions in the Psalms and I read something in
Psalm 30, verse six. You don't have to turn there,
but it's a confession that David made.
David, a man after God's own heart, even admitted this.
He said, As for me, I said in my prosperity I shall never be
moved. That's dangerous.
As for me, I said in my prosper,
in my success, in my long lasting achievement, nothing
will shake me, nothing will move me, nothing will tempt me.
And if you and I are not careful, the varying temptations
on the other side of obedience will surprise you, and they have
a tendency of overtaking even the strongest of men and women
of God. And so you and I must always be
alert and mindful of what? Check this out.
Renewed attacks. They are guaranteed.
They will come. You might not know when, you
might not know how, but as long as you have breath and you are
serving the Lord Jesus Christ with your life, attacks will
arrive. Yes, you overcame sin yesterday,
but if you are not mindful of this aspect of spiritual
warfare, you will be caught off guard.
And this is precisely what the Lord is trying to convey to
Ahab. He is reminding him not to get
too comfortable. He is informing him to be
prepared because while he is enjoying, yes, even the grace of
God, yes, a supernatural provision from God, the enemy is
in the background planning and scheming for his next
opportunity. And that is exactly what you and
I are going to read in a moment. But I want to tell you that the
instructions of the prophet toward Ahab are totally
applicable for you and I in the context of spiritual warfare,
because you and I are in spiritual warfare, whether you
are aware of it or not, whether you are engaged in it or not,
it's always happening. That's just a paradigm that you
signed up for when you said yes to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's nothing to be afraid of because we are guaranteed
wonderful victory as long as we discipline ourselves and apply
certain truths. So here's some things that we
can take from this one verse. Come again to verse 22 with me
and notice what the prophet says.
He says, come #1 strengthen yourself.
Yes, and in like manner, you and I are constantly called to
nurture, develop and receive strength from the Lord, because
what we knew yesterday will not suffice for today or tomorrow.
The only way that we can arrive to the possibility of longevity
in victory over sin, over the temptations of the flesh and the
persuasions of this world is if you abide, if you abide only in
abiding in Christ, can you draw from his power that will flow
through your veins. So he tells him, yes, you
overcame this thing, but I'm calling you now to strengthen
yourself further. You can't depend upon the power
that you tapped into last week, Ahab.
You need renewed grace today. And so my connection to the
Lord, my receiving from the Lord, my sitting at His feet is
not optional if I want to know strength spiritually.
But that's not the only thing He says.
Come, strengthen yourself and consider well what you have to
do. So in other words, remain in the
mindset of strategic warfare. Don't dismiss yourself.
Don't get distracted. Now consider well what you have
to do. And if we are convinced, as I
said earlier, that we are in this constant wrestling with
this flesh, with this world, with an invisible force, then
you and I are going to be more likely to be disciplined and
careful and aware and not caught by surprise.
That's what he says. Lastly, For in the spring, the
king of Syria will come up against you.
In other words, be mindful of upcoming battles.
Whether they are going to be unforeseen persecutions or
familiar temptations, they will surely come as the Syrians.
We're studying. What to do next.
Satan studies. Satan and his minions study.
They've been studying human behavior since the beginning of
time. And they are so conniving and
they are so astute and so aware that people tend to mistaken the
ability of the realm of darkness with God's ability like
omniscience and ineptantance. It's not that they share in
those qualities. It's because they have observed
human behavior enough to realize that there are patterns where
they have almost perfected their abilities to make others trip.
But you know what the Bible says?
Greater as he was in US than he was in the world, no matter what
kind of plans that they've come up with, no matter what has
worked throughout human history, it doesn't have to work for you
and I if Christ dwells in your life, if he dwells in your
heart. So here's what we see.
As Ahab was receiving heavenly instruction from a prophet, Ben
Haddad was receiving his own set of advice, but from a different
source. Look at verse 23.
And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, him being Ben
Haddad, their gods are the gods of the hills.
And so they are. They were stronger than we, but
let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be
stronger than they. And do this, remove the kings
each from his post, and put commanders in their places, and
muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for
horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them
in the plane, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
And he listened to their voice and did so.
So they're regathering and they are thinking to themselves, all
right, we lost that one, but we're not going to give up.
How do we sharpen ourselves? How do we come up with a more
effective plan? And here here's, well, let me
put it this way, you can take a lot from this passage, but
let's, let's make this one major observation.
And, and I want to do it in this fashion.
What do they believe about God here that stands out to you as
being erroneous? The God of Israel, What's that?
He's limited to geographical boundaries.
Yes, that's one. What else?
Yeah. There's not just one God of
Israel. Notice that they said here
they're gods, plural. They're gods are the gods of the
hills. And they thought to themselves,
well, because we fought in that kind of terrain, they're gods
assisted them. But if we if we make it to the
plane, then we will be at an advantage.
Here's the big picture of the section of Scripture.
Though many things can be said, isn't it obvious how their
theology is impacting their methodology?
That's what you're supposed to see here.
In other words, what these Syrian servants believed about
who God is and what he can or cannot do determined how they
interpreted events and how to respond to them.
So you, you have to see that when they look at this, it's
actually determining their operations.
And as our sister said, what they believed about the God of
Israel was a common belief in ancient religion, an ancient
religion. There was this idea that there
were a wide spectrum of gods, and these gods are supervised
and were in charge of different facets of the world.
And so you had the God of rain, you have the God of the sun, you
had the God of agriculture, you had the God of fertility.
And so you had all these idols. And this explains in part why it
was such a great temptation to adopt all these false deities
into your system, into your nation, into your religious
experience. Because the more gods that you
adopted, the more you covered your bases and the more you are
in an advantage, because now you appease these gods and they can
help you economically, they can help you in military strategy.
So this was a very real and constant appeal of having this
plethora of different deities that apparently supervise a
variety of regions and aspects of the universe.
But don't get too stuck on the cultural interpretation of this
text. Don't do that.
See the application of it. Here's the application of it.
Misconceptions about God are not harmless.
They're not, they're not harmless.
This idea, your truth is your truth.
My truth is my truth. That comes at a high price
because this is a prime example that what you believe about God
will determine how you behave, how you think, how you act, how
you plan, what you invest in, what you do, what your
convictions are. AW, Tozer famously said.
What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most
important thing about you, and I agree with him wholeheartedly.
What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most
important thing about you. And what these poor souls
thought about God would lead them into great trouble.
And listen, misconceptions or misunderstandings about the
character of God are not limited to those who believe in false
gods or have their own subjective portrait of who God
is. It's possible for Christians,
Christians who do that daily, engage with the worldview
shaping power of the Word of God.
And so in the same way that these Syrians believe that God,
the God of Israel at least, was the God of the hills, another
God of the plains, you have some even within the church, who
believe God is relevant to some areas and not others.
I've bumped into people who think that God is completely
concerned and exclusively concerned with deeds of love and
not faithful doctrine. I know other Christians who
believe that God has the power to save their soul from hell but
not save them from the power of pornography.
I know others who believe that God is to be sought for these
particular predicaments, but he doesn't seem to offer much help
in these kind of situations that that God will show favor and
blessing to those who have more public gifts.
But not for me, unnoticed and obscure churchgoer.
So in the same way, you have people who think that God is
applied here, Goddess capabilities here, but not here
and not there. And I would add to Tozer's
incredible commentary about the importance of what we think
about God with this, that the most important thing to shape
your thinking about God is God's word and God's word alone.
You limit that to experience. You limit that to what you feel.
My friend, you are signing up for a disastrous way of life.
Do you realize that these Syrians are planning their own
suicide on the basis of them thinking that God is limited to
the mountains? This is their own death
sentence, and equally deadly is you finding the liberty to
define God in a way that He does not define Himself.
And before you and I move on from this point, let me
highlight to you yet another danger of skewed theology.
Not only is it dangerous in the obvious sense, but it's
dangerous because it offends a holy God.
Look at verse 26 with me. In the spring Ben Haddad
mustered the Syrians and went up to AFEC to fight against Israel.
And the people of Israel were mustered and were provisioned
and went against them. The people of Israel encamped
before them like 2 little flocks of goats.
But the Syrians filled the country.
Verse 28 And a man of God came near and said to the king of
Israel. Thus says the Lord.
Because the Syrians have said the Lord is a God of the hills,
but he is not a God of the valleys.
Therefore, in other words, because of that, I will give all
this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I
am the Lord. So the Syrians thought that they
were planning behind the scenes. And you know who was there in
their meeting room? God.
God hears everything. And that alone right here proves
that He's not just the God of the hills.
He was the God in their board meeting as well.
He's omnipresent. Listen, it's a dangerous game to
play when men intentionally distorts who God is.
At the same time, God is extremely patient with the
unsaved who are warped in their thinking.
And God is very much kind and long-suffering toward His
children who are developing in their understanding, though
steadily in their knowledge of the truth.
But the Lord does not have long tolerance for those who in their
arrogance attempt to May God something what he is not and
inform others about what he will or will not do.
And I'm reminded of a New Testament principle because the
temptation of studying the Old Testament and seeing something
like this is to say, well, the Old Testament was God in a bad
mood and the New Testament is God in a good mood.
And what I want to tell people who think that.
And if you have conversations with people who believe that,
who are maybe limited to the Gospels, and we rejoice in the
gospel accounts, ask them if they finished the New Testament,
ask them if they read the last book.
And I want to show you one place where the Lord Jesus Christ
directly condemns one of the local assemblies.
In John's day. It was a church in Pergamum.
And I want you to see His language towards those who
tolerated false teaching because this tolerance that I'm speaking
about concerning the Lord and those who propagate falsehood is
especially irksome to the Lord when it is being done within His
church. Revelation chapter 2.
You can turn there if you want to know what Revelation is, it's
after Genesis. Revelation chapter 2.
I don't want you to come here with me to verse 12.
Revelation 212 And to the Angel of the church in Pergamum write
the words of him who has the two, that the sharp 2 edged
sword rather. And verse 13 reads, I know where
you dwell, where Satan's throne is, yet you hold fast my name,
And you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my
faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
I can hardly get by this passage whenever I quote it without
making this specific. Observation, one that I love
making. I just so give God glory that He
informs us indirectly that wherever Pergamum was and
whatever inhabited that place in the physical realm, at least it
made Satan so comfortable that at this time he made his
headquarters there. He's saying, why would you
praise God for that? Because at the same time, God
raised up a church in that very same region, a real, genuine
church, a local assembly of believers can even be known,
raised up on the same street where Satan has his command
center. There are people who think, how,
how can you have a church in Chicago?
Well, I'm not sure where Satan's throne is today.
I know Chicago is pretty bad. But even if Satan does have his
headquarters here, evidently a church can can exist.
And so I rejoice in that. God can do a work anywhere.
And he praises this church because they experience a great
level of persecution. And there's this one individual
named Antipas who some believed to be one of the elders of this
church who was martyred. And so he acknowledges that.
But things quickly turn in verse 14.
But I have a few things against you.
Pause. I never want the Lord to be able
to say that of me. Never.
I believe we are saved by grace and grace alone.
I believe it's faith in what Christ has done that secures our
salvation. But it's possible, even in
having faith in the sufficient work of Christ to disappoint the
Lord. I'm not looking to live my life
to just get a ticket into eternity while I break the heart
of my Master. So when I read this and I read
these seven churches, I often think to myself, Lord, if you
were to write a letter to Maranatha Bible Church, would
you have commendation or condemnation or mix of both?
I want only commendation. But he tells this church, I have
a few things against you and here are the things.
You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who
taught Balaac to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel
so that they might eat food, sacrifice to idols, and practice
sexual immorality. Isn't it amazing how the Lord is
using the Old Testament and the New Testament?
How he's using an Old Testament reality and applying it in a new
covenant sense? One more reason to be encouraged
to know the Old Testament. But he tells this church, you
have some who hold to the specific teaching, and whatever
the essence of this teaching was, it was producing a way of
life, the sense of freedom to worship in other temples and to
actually perform these gross sexual practices.
And it's not just that. Look at verse 15.
So also you have some who hold to the teaching of the
Nicolaitans, and that specific doctrine is not spelled out for
us. But whatever it is, God hates
it. And then here's the warning in
verse 16. Therefore, repent.
Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon.
And this is the language here. War against them with the sword
of my mouth. So he tells the church that's
tolerating this false teaching. There are some who may not be
participating in it or even believe in it, but they know of
others who do, and they haven't confronted them.
They've allowed them to remain. They've allowed false teachers
to come in and to hold Bible studies about things that are
not right. And so the Lord has a warning
for those who allowed it and for those who are sharing it.
He says to those who are tolerating it, I'm going to come
to you soon. So there is an urgency there,
but there's also a time gap. I'm giving you time.
I'm giving you time to repent. And if you don't repent, I will
come to you and then to those who are the instigators, the
main instruments of this problem, he says, and war
against them with the sword of my mouth.
This is not Numbers. This is not Deuteronomy.
This is Revelation, post resurrection and ascension of
Jesus Christ. And he tells a particular group
of people who are poisoning a local church, I will go to war
with you. I will personally go to war with
you. And the fact that he says the
sword of my mouth, that speaks of severe judgment.
If you look at the sword of my mouth in the context of
revelation, it's it's grave, it's heavy.
And so he's telling this church, listen church and Pergamum, your
job is not just to extend love. It's not just to endure
steadfastly the persecution outside of your assembly.
It's to make sure that my house is clean and pure.
And if you don't deal with it, here's what the Lord says, I'm
going to deal with it. If the elders of the church will
not fulfill their duty, then I myself will step in and do
something about it. Why?
Why is this so serious to the Lord?
Because it is detrimental to the testimony of the church, not
just in their misrepresentation of the truth, but also what lies
and fallacies lead to. Notice in verse 15, again, look
with me, He says, so you also have some who hold to the
teaching of the Nicolaitans. So he is.
He's upset at the fact that they are holding to false doctrine.
But look back at Revelation 2 when he speaks to the church in
Ephesus, and look what he says in verse 6.
Yet this you have. He's speaking to another
assembly, yet this you have. You hate the works of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Notice with the Church of
Ephesus, he doesn't highlight the doctrine or the teaching of
the Nicolaitans, but the works. When he comes to the church and
program, he underscores the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
What are we supposed to make of that?
I think one thing you're supposed to make is what we
already discussed, that what you teach and what you believe will
determine how you live and what you do.
The works of the Nicolaitans didn't come from the thin air.
It came from a system of belief and understanding of
spirituality that is wrong, that is skewed, that is poisoned,
that is dark. And so this is This is why the
Lord steps in in the way that he does.
We see it here in First Kings. We see it in Revelation and you
see in so many other places. But let's come back to our main
study tonight because the Syrians have said this, I'm
going to give these people into your hands and for what purpose?
Look at the last part of verse 28 and you shall know that I am
the Lord. So I'm just blown away by the
mercy of God. He said the same thing back in
verse 13. They overthrow the Syrians in a
miraculous fashion, and yet there's not a peep of praise or
acknowledgement from Ahab. And the prophet comes again and
he says, look, they're coming back in the spring, so get
ready. He promises him victory, and yet
he gives the same purpose, the same desired goal from the mouth
of the Lord. Why am I going to let them be
defeated? That you will know that I am the
Lord? He's still pursuing after Ahab's
reluctance to acknowledge that the Lord is a true God.
Don't tell me that God is not persistently patient and
long-suffering and yearning for sinners in the Old Testament to
come to himself. He's still chasing after this
guy. He's still willing to
demonstrate 1 miracle after another to prove to him that I
am the truth. And they encamped verse 29
opposite one another seven days. Then on the 7th day the battle
was joined and the people of Israel struck down of the
Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day and the rest fled into
the city of AFEC and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were
left. That could most likely mean that
the wall was brought down and that made way for those who are
hiding to be slain. Why is this an astounding feat?
Go back here to verse 27. And the people who were mustered
and were provisioned and went against them, the people of
Israel encamped before them like 2 little flocks of goats.
So if you had aerial view of this, you would see just like
just two, two bands of soldiers on the side of Israel, whereas
the Syrians filled the country. And yet God comes through.
He brings deliverance. He does something that cannot be
deemed natural. And this sounds like it would be
a wonderful end to the story. You would think, OK, now Ahab
has seen way more than he needed to see.
He bends his knee. He acknowledges that the Lord is
the true God. Happily ever after.
Israel's transformed. There's renewal, there's
revival, at least during his monarchy.
And you might be disappointed because that's not where the
chapter ends. That's not where this section of
thought ends. It takes an ugly turn, verse 30
tells us. And the rest fled into the city
of AFEC, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left.
Ben Haddad also fled and entered an inner chamber in the city.
Verse 31. And his servant said to him,
Behold, now we have heard the kings of the House of Israel are
merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth around our
waist and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of
Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.
So Benedict servants who gave him the previous strategy and
failed, now come up with another plan.
This time it's not to produce another skillful scheme.
It's to just surrender. Benedict just.
We have nothing else to lose. Why don't we just make our way
towards them and humility and hope that they will?
They will spare our lives. But I have a question here.
Where did they get the idea that the kings of the House of Israel
were merciful? I mean, we can only speculate.
I think 1 plausible way of explaining this is that in their
comparative evaluation of the neighboring nations, because
there was some Intel, obviously even at that time they
understood how things worked in different nations and different
beliefs. But as they contrasted, perhaps
the nation of Israel did develop a reputation of being merciful.
History will testify of the brutality like graphic,
unspeakable acts that some of these ancient rulers performed.
And honest historians who look at the Scriptures, namely the
Old Testament, from an historical standpoint would
admit that though things like what we read in Leviticus and
Deuteronomy might be foreign to our context, we're
countercultural in their day, countercultural.
And so it could be just that. It could be them realizing that
in their distant observation and what they've heard, they've
concluded that the people, namely the rulers, were merciful
because their God is merciful. And there's a gospel ring to
this, is there not? Here you have these Syrians who
have rebelled against the people of God, who have resisted and
challenged the God of Israel. And once they found themselves
defeated, they were also comforted by the potential
thought that God will extend mercy to them rather than wrath.
And it's no different for the Sinner today that though they
have lived all their lives fighting against God, the news
of what Christ offers can provide the hope to change
everything. But here's here's where it's
different. What Christ offers in his good
news is better than whatever news they heard.
Why? Because though they did think
that there was a potential crumb of mercy available to them, it
was not guaranteed. Look here how they say it at the
end of verse 31. Perhaps, perhaps He will spare
your life. Perhaps it's not guaranteed.
We can't be confident. We can only gamble.
That's not true with Christ. What does he say here in John
637? All that the Father has given to
me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will
never castaway. I will never castaway from the
lips of the King of kings himself.
See, the king of Israel, this time they didn't have the
assurance. The true king, he gives you
assurance. Notice that Jesus says whoever,
whoever, he qualifies and makes that availability possible for
all, Whoever comes to me, and he says I will never cast out.
So no matter how dark your sins are, no matter how polluted your
soul is, if you stumble into his presence, he promises to accept
you. He promises to wash you.
He promises to change. He promises to secure your
eternity. He promises.
And if your heart ever condemns you or tells you otherwise,
first, John tells us that God is greater than our hearts.
He's greater than our hearts. So they come up with this plan
and whatever was promising concerning Ahab will prove to be
short lived in the next verse. Look at verse 32.
So they tied sackcloth around their waist and put ropes on
their heads and went to the king of Israel and said, your servant
Ben Haddad says please let me live.
And he said, does he still live? He is my brother.
Come on, what is going on in here?
Ahab for you to identify yourself with this enemy as a
brother and one might object and say, well, Ben had dad repented,
did he? Is this repentance on Benedict's
part? Tell me why it's not true
repentance. OK, why though?
Why? OK, so this is this is
manipulation and this isn't true penitence.
This isn't a person who acknowledges that they've done
wrong. There seems to be no evidence of
crowning the Lord to be the true, the true God.
There seems to be no brokenness. There's not even basic apology
for the recent harassment. It's just this desperate shot in
the dark, say, hey, would you let me live?
So there's there's even an absence of sorrow.
It's just, it's just this, let's just see what happens.
And this is in part why what Ahab does is wrong.
But there's even more to that. And you would only know it if
you actually read this chapter in advance and are familiar with
this passage. Because what Ahab does in
relieving and rescuing this man's life is in direct
disobedience to God's command. Look at verse 42 of the same
chapter and you'll see it. Another man of God will come
shortly. And here's the proof that what
Ahab did flied in the face of what God asked him, and he said
to him. Thus says the Lord, because you
have let go out of your hand the man whom I devoted to
destruction. Therefore your life shall be for
his life, and your people for his people.
So though it's not plainly written, it's disclosed to us
that somewhere in the instructions given to Ahab, God
had told him and given him a similar charge as he did to Saul
with the Amalekites. Eradicate them completely.
Deal with them once and for all. And I know, especially if you
haven't been here regularly, this might be startling to you.
But let me just make a brief comment on that.
Whenever the Lord, especially in the Old Covenant, gives such a
charge for a people group to be eliminated, it is always because
he knows something that we don't.
And in great part, their continuing presence poses a
major threat to the people of God.
And you're going to see that in this very same chapter, or at
least in this book. But it's true in every case.
And what Ahab does here is what many people do when they face
temptation. They immediately recognize some
rewards in disobedience. Look at verse 34.
And Benedad said to him, The cities that my father took from
your father I will restore, and you may establish bazaars for
yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.
And Ahab said, I will let you go on these terms.
So he made a covenant with him and let him go.
So recap here. They said, why don't we just ask
him to to spare your life and see if he does?
They approach him. They said, hey, your servant
Benedad asked, please let me live.
He goes, is he still alive? He's my brother.
Like that should shock you. You know why I should shock you?
It shocked the messengers of Benedad.
Look at verse 33. Look what they say.
Now. The men were watching for a
sign, and they quickly took it up from him and said, yes, your
brother Benedad. So yeah, yeah, yeah.
Your brother Benedad. Yeah, then Benedette came up to
him and he caused him to come up into the chariot and they come
up with a plan. He negotiates, he goes, look,
I'll, I'll give you the cities that we took from you and I'll,
I'll even let you do some trade within the the territory of
Damascus. So Ahab's there.
He knows what God told them, but he's thinking to myself, this
will boost Israel's economy. This, this, this will be an
alliance that might help us in future times where there will be
greater threats, perhaps from rising empires.
And so he gives in. And listen, you know very well
that this is just yet another example to store in our hearts
among the many illustrations in the Bible, that you can never
make a deal with sin and come out conquering unscathed and
blessed. Never.
You can never, whether your negotiation is the duration of
that sin, the extent of that sin.
You can never make a deal with temptation and not get robbed.
How was Ahab robbed here? I mean, this seems pretty simple
here. The city's back and you can
bring some of your products into Damascus and you can make a
little bit more money. It's not until you go to 1st
Kings 22. But let's do it now just to make
this point. Look at First Kings 22.
And look at verse one. For three years Syria and Israel
continued without war. But in the third year,
Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel.
And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you know that
Ramoth Gilead belongs to us? And we keep quiet and do not
take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?
You guys catch it. So back in chapter 20, the King
of Syria says we're going to give you back all these cities.
Three years go by and obviously the king of Syria holds back one
city, at least a very strategic one.
He broke his promise. He broke his promise, and this
was now going to instigate another war.
Listen. Sin disappoints.
Always, always, always, always listen.
It will always fail you. I know you think that that
adulterous relationship will add some zest to your life, but it's
going to bite you back. And I know you think that
cheating and being dishonest might make your pocket a little
fatter, but I guarantee you the consequences of that sin will
cost way more than if you had just paid upfront.
Whatever sin promises you, it will always lie to you.
I've sat before Christians enough to know that sin is a
terrible thing to negotiate with.
Don't do it. Don't do it especially when the
thought whispers in your head or in your heart, God will forgive
you. You'll be fine.
It's going to be OK. Just do it once, it's not going
to happen again. Lies, lies, lies.
So he makes a deal with sin and three years go by and would you
know it, the king of Syria lied to him.
And this is just another thing for you and I to embed in our
hearts so that we would not forget in our opportunity to
make a deal with that which breaks the heart of God.
Let's see if we can finish this tonight, shall we?
Put your seatbelts on verse 35 of First Kings 20.
And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow
at the command of the Lord, Strike me, please.
But the man refused to strike him.
Then he said to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of the
Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall
strike you down. And as soon as he departed from
a lion met him and struck him down.
It's a little intense, so let's make sense of this because for
some this might seem unreasonable.
You have a certain man of the sons of the prophets.
The sons of the prophets are going to appear more than once
in this narrative of the kings. They were essentially a school
of gifted messengers who heralded the word of God.
And like any school, you had different tiers.
You had teachers and here we see that one of them from the sons
of the prophet said to his fellow, implying that he is
speaking and asking this of another son of the prophet.
So he's saying to a companion, strike me please.
And further evidence, I believe that the person who is being
asked to do this, as crazy might seem, is a prophet is because of
the consequence for disobedience.
What was the consequence? He didn't strike him so a lion
would meet him and destroy him. Have we seen that before?
We've seen that in First Kings 13 with another unnamed man who
went to speak to a king. He was supposed to go back a
certain way, not stop, not eat bread.
He refused. And what was the consequence?
A lion met him on the road and destroyed him.
So I would say that perhaps this is designed to bring to our
minds of similarities to further confirm the prophetic identity
of this person. Why is that important?
Because if you're a prophet at this time and you're being asked
to do something like this, you you should already know that God
asks of strange things sometimes.
So this isn't so outlandish. Prophets did things to almost
perform sermons in action, and so when this prophet tells
another prophet, strike me, and he doesn't your prophet, you
should know better. More than that though, why else
is this a sin? It's pretty plain.
Did this come from the prophet's idea?
What does verse 35 say? He said to his fellow at the
command of the Lord, So there was a thus says the Lord behind
this and it came from a prophet, a reputable prophet, obviously,
because Ahab is going to recognize him at the end of this
chapter. So he says, listen, the Lord is
asking you to do this to me because I have to send another
message and it's going to require a black eye.
And he goes, I won't do it. It goes, OK, you didn't disobey
me, you disobeyed God and you're going to pay a price for it.
And you think, OK, well, that's helpful, but how does this make
sense for us? I think it's very simple.
When God's will is made known to you and I, it always demands
obedience. Whether that demand is small or
great, it doesn't matter. This is strategically woven into
this part of the Scripture, Not by accident, right?
We're dealing with Ahab's disobedience and now you have
this prophet who disobeys and God doesn't show any favorites.
If a prophet disobeys or rebellious king, it will always
displease him. And that's the point.
Whether the command is to destroy an entire army or to
punch somebody in the face. As strange as that command might
be, if God wills it, then we must comply with it.
And whether we are gifted or whether we are in full time
ministry, or whether we are in the political sphere or we are
in the business world, God's heart is the same for all of us.
He he desires our submission to him and our trust in His Word.
So what happens? One prophet became lunch for a
lion. In verse 37 we read of another.
Then he found another man and said, strike me please.
And the man struck him, struck him and wounded him.
I wonder if this prophet heard what happened to the previous
one. So when he really hit him, he
hit him. I that's the feel I get at this.
Texas struck him, struck him and wounded him.
So the prophet departed and waited for the king, by the way,
disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.
And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, Your
servant went out into the midst of the battle.
And behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said,
Guard this man. If by any means he is missing,
your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent
of silver. And as your servant was busy
here and there, he was gone. The king of Israel said to him,
so shall your judgement be. You yourself have decided it.
Have we seen this playbook before?
Where have we seen it before, David.
And who's the prophet Who did this then?
Nathan. Nathan came with a story to
disarm David. Nathan came with a parable to
position David as a judge of this story.
And he's doing the same thing with Ahab.
He's separating Ahab from the very same sin that he is ready
to condemn himself with. And he is going to make this
declaration, and indirectly he's making it about himself.
The prophets were brilliant at finding ways for people to be
convicted. And so Ahab, he hears this and
he goes, look, you made a deal. You yourself have decided it, so
this is going to happen to you. And though that is the main
point, I can't help but see something tucked into this.
This is a fabricated story. It's not a true story, but I
just find it interesting here that you can even see a
principle that applies to us, namely in verse 40, when this
prophet explains how he was supposed to supervise a captive.
He, he says, and as your servant was busy here and there, he was
gone. The king of Israel said to him,
so shall your judge and be yourself have decided it.
This man admits again, though this isn't a true story, what he
says, nonetheless it's very, very, very true of so many.
He had a duty and he failed to perform that duty because he got
distracted. That's what he's saying, right?
He got busy here and there and it cost him.
And I would say here that you and I have to be careful if we
find ourselves using busyness as an excuse to not perform what
God has asked of us. It's it's really common these
days and, and I get it, but I also find it amazing with all
these technological advancements and all these tools that are
disposal. Does anybody else disagree that
we feel busier than ever and there is that temptation to take
distractions in our lives to negate our responsibility as
Christians? You know, there are some people
who will not come to the House of God because they're busy here
and there. You have some people who do not
use their gifts for God because they're busy here and there.
Can I tell you something? Forgive me for being so
simplistic. Just honor God and watch out.
He'll honor you. Honor Him.
Put Him first. Make worship your priority.
Seek first the Kingdom. Put yourself of making your
existence about glorifying Him in the way that He has fashioned
you to glorify Him and watch how He'll take care of everything
else. I could testify this 12 year
after 12 years of walking with the Lord that when I was a
college student, single with a full time schedule in need of
money, got took care of me. And when I graduated school and
also trying to save up money, got took care of me.
And now that I'm married and still by God's grace wanting to
serve the Lord, He's taking care of us.
You do what God told you to do and watch how God will take care
of you. And I'm not saying you negate
responsibilities or you go overboard.
We talked about Elijah, how he exhausted himself even in the
place of serving God to his own harm.
I'm speaking about your heart posture, being positioned to say
everything orbits around me, honoring what the Lord asks of
me. I'm not abandoning my post no
matter what comes or goes. That tenacity that that fight,
that zeal is, is is strangely missing in most of America,
American Christianity. I wasn't even planning to go
here, but let's just do it. Since you're here and your
seatbelts are still on. Go to Titus 3.
Titus three. Titus is with all the other
letters that start with T. So Timothy, if you're there,
you're close. If you're passing Thessalonians
equally close, look at Titus. Why did Jesus Christ die on the
cross for our sins? Here's one reason.
Look at verse 14 of chapter 2. Who gave himself for us to
redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a
people, for his own possession. Who are what?
Please say it to me. Zealous for good works.
Zealous. Zealous for good works.
You're excited to serve God. You're preoccupied with serving
God. You have a passion to serve God.
One of the outcomes of Jesus Christ dying on the cross and
redeeming a people is that they would be zealous for good works.
You think it would end there? It doesn't end there.
Look here at verse eight of chapter 3.
The saying is trustworthy. And I want you to insist on
these things that so that those who have believed in God may be
careful to devote themselves to good works.
So what is he saying, Pastor Titus, tell your people to be
careful, implying that if you are not careful, you're going to
get careless, to be careful to devote themselves to good works.
Well, we're the gospel of grace. Yeah.
That gospel of grace teaches you to be zealous for good works.
Doesn't teach you to be idle, doesn't teach you to sit on your
hands, doesn't teach you to be busy about absolutely everything
except the things of God. How?
That's not the gospel. You think it ends there?
It doesn't end there. Look at verse 14 and let our
people learn to devote themselves to good works.
Like he's not getting off of it. Jesus came for this.
Be careful to do it and let people learn to do what?
Devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent
need and not be unfruitful. God's will for you is to be
fruitful. It's not to be the same person
you were when you accepted Christ five years ago.
It's for you to grow and increase and advance.
And one of the things that you and I are called to grow and
increases in good works doesn't mean you're going to serve God
the same way that the next person does.
Doesn't mean you're going to serve God the same way the full
time minister does. But there is observable things.
Can I ask you something like, what can you point to in your
life and say I do this for the Lord, I do this for the Lord?
You're saying I don't want to hear that?
No, no, no. Go back to the how God's grace
was rescuing Ahab. OK?
When God rescues you with his grace, you're supposed to do
something. It's supposed to do something in
your life. So the same people who want the
gospel, who want to protect the gospel, and I'm one of those
people. Well, look what Titus says as he
has proclaimed the truth of the gospel.
There's consequence to the gospel, glorious, holy
consequence. Well, that wasn't planned in
Bible study, but let's finish our last few verses of this
chapter together. First Kings chapter 20, verse
41. Then he hurried to take the
bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized
him as one of the prophets. 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 be for
his life, and your people for his people.
You know, Ahab had not responded to the splendid grace of God as
he defended him, undeservingly, protected him, and interceded,
or rather intervened for him. So now it's time for discipline.
Listen, this is not coming randomly.
This is coming with a backdrop of mercy being showered over
this man. And you would think that, OK, if
you didn't catch on to God's goodness, maybe now this
discipline, this warning is going to awaken you.
You would think, yes, OK, maybe now Ahab will fall to his knees
and cry out to the Lord. Here's what you read in verse
43. And the king of Israel went to
his house, vexed and sullen, and came to Samaria.
He was upset. He was upset, sulking, dragging
his feet unchanged. Unchanged.
So what's the take away from this?
It's a sad take away that despite all that the Lord has
done for this man, He wouldn't give himself to him.
That's what you and I are supposed to see at the end of
the study. That man is capable of doing
such heinous things, though. This holy God does so much to
reach us and to gather us to Himself.
And that is why the greatest judgment is reserved for those
who, on the other side of the cross, have despised and denied
the Lord after he sent His Son Jesus Christ.
It's no small thing to think small about what Christ has
done. It may be small in your eyes,
but it is not insignificant in the eyes of God the Father.
And there is a day of reckoning where those who have turned
their back against God will have to explain it.
And no explanation will do for why Jesus Christ was not
received to forgive your sins. So if you're a person here who
is unnecessarily delaying your acceptance of the gospel, why?
It's a message of love. It's a message of mercy.
It's a message of tender compassion where you and I, who
are enemies of God, are made righteous because of the
initiation of God in reaching out to you and me.
I pray that if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, that
tonight, even on this Friday night, you would accept Him and
receive Him by repenting of your sin and embracing Him as the
sole means of your salvation. St.
May you be equipped for war may be mindful that this is a
lifelong battle with sin. May also be encouraged to know
that as long as you strengthen yourself with the supply of
grace that God has given us and are mindful of this, and you put
on that armor, you will know victory.
You don't have to be identified with a scandal like many people
are. You don't have to be known as a
person who did not have a glorious graduation throughout
their existence on earth. You don't have to be numbered
among those. God has given us everything that
we need to know wonderful testimonies in Him if we but
trust Him, obey Him, seek Him, wait on Him, love Him, worship
Him, and serve Him. Amen.
Let's seek Him together. In closing, we do bless the name
of the Lord. We thank you, oh God, for your
wonderful provision of truth in this chapter.
And we ask, Oh God, that you would be gracious to bind these
things on our hearts and keep them in remembrance.
Lord, we see Your relentless love and grace in this chapter,
and we pray that the Holy Spirit would make it real for us.
Please, Lord, if all of this has been interpreted as simple
lessons or moral maxims and proverbs, forgive us.
Lord, we ask instead that our hearts would burn with love for
the God of this word. Let that be the fruit of this
Bible study tonight. Let our hearts be softer towards
you. Let there be a genuine
evaluation, introspection that will cause us to grow closer to
you. May your Holy Spirit do that.
Oh God, we've done all that we can in our own ability.
Yes, depending on you. But Lord, a change life can only
occur by your power. So we we ask that you would make
it happen and all of us. And we ask these things in the
living, matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen and Amen. Let's stand, let's worship the
Lord, honour the Lord, thank him, thank him for this
spiritual bread and spiritual drink.