Will meet me in the book of First Kings in chapter 16,
please. This chapter that we aim to
complete tonight will almost feel like a conveyor belt of
truth because what we have before us is five consecutive
accounts of five different kings who ruled and reigned in Israel.
And their names are given to us in these added headings of our
Bibles, but they're mentioned there in the text as well.
But a brief glance will show us that the first one that we are
going to deal with is Basha, the second being Edla, the third
being Zimri, the 4th being Omri. And lastly, the infamous Ahab is
where we will conclude our study.
And just from a brief surface level reading of this chapter,
you can grasp 2 features that all of these kings have in
common. It's pretty obvious.
And the first one is no surprise.
The first commonality that these kings share, these kings of the
northern tribes, is that each of them were wicked.
No surprise, each of them were evil.
In fact, you get the impression that as you move from one king
to the next that the wickedness and the rebellion and the
apostasy only gets more intense, more intense than the former
king. That is the first thing to
mention. The 2nd characteristic that
these kings share is that each of them ascended and descended
during the one single administration of the King of
Judah. So what you're going to notice
is that in this chapter, you have the introductions of these
kings, and those introductions will be the time stamps of King
ASA. And when these other kings of
the North ascended during his reign.
In other words, in the one reign of King ASA in the southern part
of Israel, you're going to have 5 kings show up, disappear, show
up again, disappear at the same time.
And so how we're going to break down the study is the way that
the text breaks up for us. Naturally, we're going to look
at each of these kings. And though we're not going to
exhaustively examine each one, though we can make each one into
a Bible study, we will just have principles based on preview.
And so let's read together the first few verses of First Kings
16 as we now continue to examine the roster of the Kingdom of
Israel verse one. And the word of the Lord came to
Jehu the son of Hanani, against Basha, saying, Since I exalted
you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel,
and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my
people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins.
Behold, I will utterly sweep away Basha and his house, and I
will make your house like the House of Jeroboam, the son of
Nabat. Anyone belonging to Basha who
dies in the city, the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies
in the field, the birds of the heavens shall eat.
Let's pause there before looking at the lessons of King Basha.
Let's consider who this prophet was.
Jehu, the son of Hanani. He appears on the scene and he
gives a very, as you just read, a bold rebuke to this king.
But my question is, who is he? And we have clues based on his
lineage. He is the son of Hanani.
Now Hananani might not be familiar to you in our study of
First Kings, but he is familiar to us in the parallel study of
kings which is found in Second Chronicles in chapter 16 and
verse seven. You don't have to turn there,
just listen to this. Han and I was a prophet himself.
So Jehu's father was a man of God who spoke on behalf of God.
Han and I was the one who approached a king, King ASA,
when King ASA disobeyed the Lord, as we learned last week,
by robbing God of His glory and his rights, by taking the gold
from the temple and the silver and giving it to the king of
Syria and his time of trouble to fight against the king of the
North. Hanani was the one who
approached King ASA and rebuked him and he was rewarded with
imprisonment. ASA was angry and he threw him
into jail. Now here's why this is so moving
to me, and This is why I want to just make a brief comment.
God raised up Han and I's son Jehu to walk in the same steps
as his father. And what I love, though we do
not have much about Jehu, he's mentioned more than once that we
do not have much said about him. Isn't the fact that he is the
son of Han? And I say enough that this man,
though he was, yes, called by God, made a conscience choice to
walk in the same prophetic mandate as his father, though he
himself witnessed his father paying a high price for speaking
the truth. I like Jehu, I'm moved by Jehu
because here you have a man who is faithful and fearless and
he's willing to do what God called him to do, even though he
experienced a close pain seeing his father being treated as such
as a man of God. And what we're going to see as
we study kings is that though these kings will increase in
wickedness, with that also will be the increase of the activity
of prophets. If you actually look at the
timeline of the kings, you'll see that a majority of the
prophets spoke and appeared during the time of great
apostasy. That says something about God's
heart. Prophets are like doctors,
spiritual doctors who appear on the scene and treat a
spiritually sick people. They speak a bold word.
They speak a confronting word, but with the redemptive aim of
seeing you restored. And so when you read the
prophetic literature of Scripture, keep in mind that
those prophets were speaking and ministering during the times of
these wicked rulers of both the northern tribes and the southern
tribes. When a nation goes South in
terms of their sin and away from God, God will raise up in His
mercy prophets. And what do prophets really do
in the Bible? People say, oh, they tell of
what's to come. That's a small part of their
ministry. The main job of a prophet is to
tell people to go back to the word of God.
So when you hear me or anybody else in these times, I've used
this before, May God raise up prophets.
What I primarily mean is May God raise up men who will speak the
word and say get back to the Bible because that's what true
prophet does. A lot of people claiming that
they're prophets and they're more like fortune tellers.
True prophets are those who say, thus says the Lord through the
written word of the Lord and had that burning heart to see the
bride of Christ purified and a lost world redeemed.
And so Jehu is just one of many prophets.
In fact, maybe you didn't realize this, but we're going to
spend a lot of time in king studying a major prophet, not a
major prophet in terms of him having a big part of the Bible
with his writings, but a major prophet in terms of a figure,
Elijah. Elijah's coming down to our
study in the next one. So this is Jehu.
And the first lesson that we get from King Basha is what he says
in verse two. Look with me, we're going to try
to do this in one setting. Since I exalted you, this is a
Lord speaking, since I exalted you out of the dust and made you
leader over my people, Israel. So here's what the prophet is
saying and reminding Basha where you are right now.
Who you are today is because of God's providential mercies.
Your promotion has been ultimately determined by God.
And by saying this to him, he wants him to remember that he
relinquished and he forfeited. And he really trashed this
opportunity to see Reform as a king, to bring the people back
to God, and instead imitated Jeroboam in his disobedience.
So essentially from this being conveyed, what Basha is hearing
is you wasted. You wasted what God permitted to
happen in your life. And it's important to know that
this idea of promotional mercies is something that not just Basha
should be aware of, but every person should know of as well.
Here's a text for you to consider.
It's very, very good In Psalm 75.
You can look at it. Actually, I would encourage you
to turn that, to see it with your own eyes.
Psalm 75, verse six and seven. This is a universal principle of
how God works in the earth, how God works in people's lives.
It says here for not from the east or from the West and not
from the wilderness comes lifting up.
And then it goes on to say for not from the east or from the
West, but it is from God who executes judgment, putting down
one and lifting up another. In other words, when you see the
lifting up in the bringing down, that's ultimately God's
orchestration. I like how the King James puts
it. The King James puts it this way.
For promotion neither cometh from the east nor from the West.
Promotion ultimately comes from God.
Any kind of promotion in any sector, any sphere of life,
exaltation comes from the exalted One.
Many truths can be drawn from this.
Can I give you 1 to meditate on? Please let God exalt you.
Let God exalt you. Do not rely on being combative
with others. Do not come to a point where you
promote yourself, where you advertise yourself.
Rest to know that ultimately, no matter even what you do, God is
the one who gives permission for any kind of promotion.
That should put you at ease, That should cause you to be
content with where you are. And more than content, be
faithful exactly where you are, trusting that if in God's wisdom
He wants you to do more, He will let it happen.
And no one can stop him. He exalts, He opens the doors,
he shuts the doors, and he brings down.
So he does it all essentially. And what I see here is that
there is a comparative jewel that we can look at when we look
at these first few words of Jehu.
Look again at Jehu's words. He says in verse two, Since I
exalted you out of where, tell me out of the dust.
Now go back to what one other prophet said to King Jeroboam.
It's only two chapters before this first Kings 14.
Look at verse 7. Go tell Jeroboam.
Thus says the Lord the God of Israel, because I exalted you
from where? What does it say among the
people? So Jeroboam was told you were
exalted from among the people. Basha was told you were exalted
from the dust. And why that's mentioned is to
under score the lowliness that Basha was emerged from.
And it was a reminder. And it is a reminder to you and
I that the Lord can elevate and the Lord can draw out any run
from anything or anywhere. That's the truth there.
And so you and I have to take this at least, at least this
truth. Be faithful unto the Lord,
whether you are among people or whether you are as overlooked as
dust. How much lower can you get than
dust? How much more hidden can you be
than dust? Among the people?
I get it, you're among the common people, but you're at
least on the same level as people.
Basha. No, you're below people.
Even I can bring you from underneath people's feet if I
choose to do so. That's what I'm able to
complete. And all you and I have to do is
just wait on the Lord. And if he desires to do it, he
will do it and just smile in every season, whether he exalts
you or he doesn't. So he tells him that you came
from the dust, but unfortunately, this is how you
treated what I allowed to happen in your life.
Now let's read in verse 5 and let's complete the rest of our
lessons from Basha, though not limited to this, I'm sure.
Now the rest of the acts of Vasha and what he did and his
might, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of
the Kings of Israel? And Vasha slept with his fathers
and was buried at Tirza, and Eli his son, reigned in his place.
Now here's the verse that we want to park at verse 7.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Jehu, the
son of Hanani, against Vasha and his house, both because of all
the evil that he had done in the sight of the Lord, provoking him
to anger. Pause.
God is not angry. That's not his disposition.
God is provoked to anger. Many people view God as an angry
God. That's how the ancient Pagan
worshippers viewed their false gods, that they constantly had
to appease them because generally they were
characterized by fury. Notice that God is provoked to
anger. His disposition is love.
His disposition, yes, holiness, yes, purity, yes, brilliance in
light. But He is provoked to anger and
it's sin that angers him. But we see that He is provoking
him to anger with the work of his hands and being.
Now this is the reason why God was provoked to anger.
There are two reasons in being like the House of Jeroboam 1 and
two, and also because he destroyed it.
Interesting. Interesting because what we
learned last week about Asha is verse 29 of chapter 15.
Read that with me Speaking of ABBA Asha and how he ascended
and secured the throne. We are told in verse 29 of
chapter 15. And as soon as he was king, he
killed all the House of Jeroboam.
He left to the House of Jeroboam not one that breathe until he
had destroyed it according to the word of the Lord that he
spoke by his servant Aija, the Shiloh knight.
So hold on, Basha destroyed the House of Jeroboam according to
the word of the Lord. And then you come to the next
chapter and you learn that Basha is going to be destroyed and his
dynasty is going to come to extinction because he destroyed
the House of Jeroboam. How do we make sense of this?
Let's consider three things. OK, Three very brief points that
hopefully will help. First, it's important for you to
realize that Bosh's pursuit of the throne was not from holy
ambition. He coveted the throne, and he so
wanted that power, not authority that he was willing to murder
for, and he did so. This is not coming from a holy
place, a pure place, a good place.
This is coming out of envy. This is coming out of selfish
ambition. Secondly, though Bosh has
secured the throne through unfortunate means, he did not
take advantage of the opportunity that he had to do
good. He did not present the
opportunity to reform and to change the place and to
revitalize it for the glory of God.
Confirming the first point that he came to the throne and he
secured and stayed on the throne for the purpose of South.
And here's the most important part.
We have to remember that Basha arriving to the throne and
Jeroboam being destroyed as a result of that was prophesied.
And just because the Lord predicts A historic shifting
event does not mean that he authored it.
In fact, what you'll realize about God is that if He desires
to judge evil, He will allow and permit evil as the instrument to
judge other evil. And that does not make him
culpable or responsible for the evil of another.
It's just his providential permission allowing one to do
what he desires to do, but God in his wisdom, accomplishing his
work through it. Baasha did destroy Jeroboam's
household and he would be guilty for it.
God predicted it. He is not the author of evil.
And even when he did arrive to the throne, God was willing to
do something of mercy towards him if he took advantage of the
realization of where he was at. But he failed even in that.
So he deserves to be judged as was prophesied.
Let's go to the next king. Remember conveyor belt, right?
We're looking at one, whoop, there go, there he goes, another
one. OK, here we go.
Previews and principles from these previews in this Bible
study, let's look at the son of Basha and let's read about him.
Verse eight, in the 26th year of ASA, king of Judah, Ela, the son
of Basha began to reign over Israel in Tirza and he reigned 2
years. But his servant Zimri, commander
of half his Chariots, pause. Is the fact that Ela having
Chariots a good thing or a bad thing?
Why is it bad? Because kings were not to
acquire many horses. And if you have a commander for
half your Chariots, that's an indication that you got a lot of
horses. So already we have an idea that
this is not a good king. But it gets worse.
Commander of half his Chariots conspired against him.
So Zimri now is planning a conspiracy against Ela the king.
When he being Ela, was at Tears, drinking himself drunk in the
House of Arza, who was over the household of Tears, Zimri came
in and struck him down and killed them in the 27th year of
ASA, king of Judah, and reigned in his place.
So Ela takes the place of his father Basha.
He only reigns for two years before he was assassinated.
And the fact that Ela again was a commander of Chariots is a
clue that he was not a man who was concerned about being
consecrated to the law of God. But Ela's problems go beyond
that, do they not? Because what we read about him
is, yes, he was murdered, but he was murdered in a certain state
of mind. Let's look at it again, verse 9.
But his servant Zimri, commander of half his Chariots, conspired
against him when he was at Tirza drinking himself drunk in the
House of Arza. Who is over the household in
Tirza? So where do you find Ela the
king of Israel? The time where he was slain, he
was at his Co workers house drinking himself into oblivion.
I know of people in my lifetime who have died in that same
state, even in high school. I remember being in high school
and we had to be brought together as a school because
there's two students who were slain in a state of being at the
wrong place, doing the wrong things.
And it makes you wonder if Ela was busy doing what he was
supposed to be doing as a king, that Zimri's conspiracy would be
much more difficult to accomplish.
Does that make sense? Because there is a lesson here
based on the fact that this is presented to us in Scripture for
our instruction, for our completion as men and women of
God. The lesson is the way you
socialize and the way we indulge can be deadly.
The way you and I choose to socialize and the way you and I
choose to indulge can be absolutely lethal.
It's clear that Ela didn't take heed to the word of God of what
kings were supposed to do in relationship to alcohol, right?
Do you remember what King Lemuel heard and Proverbs 31 verse
four? That is not for kings to drink
or rulers to take strong drink. And it is for certain that both
Ela and his Co worker, another ruler, did not take heed to the
words of Solomon elsewhere where we're told this.
And I encourage you to turn there with me in Ecclesiastes
chapter 10, verse 16. Meet me there briefly.
I want you to see this woe that Solomon pronounces on kings who
choose to do something that is related to what Ela does.
Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 16.
I'll wait for you. As long as you bring your
Bibles, I'll wait for you. Ela forgot or probably didn't
even look at this in his lifetime.
Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child.
And that is not limited to age, by the way, because there were
kings who were young and they were righteous.
Speaks of your maturity. When your king is a child and
your Princess feast in the morning.
Question for you, especially for my Middle Eastern friends.
Is it wrong to feast? No, not wrong to feast.
Is it wrong to feast in the morning?
Depends the occasion. But it was wrong for kings and
Princess and rulers to feast in the morning because the Bible
tells us that kings were to be preoccupied with a different
kind of activity before the heat of the day would arrive.
And we even have a verse of what kings were to do in the morning
time according to the prophet Jeremiah.
You can turn there if you'd like.
I'll quote it to you. Anyway, it's found in Jeremiah
chapter 21, verse 12, and it'll be up there on the screen.
But notice what the prophet says to the House of David and
Jeremiah 2112, O House of David. Thus says the Lord, Execute
justice when? In the afternoon, at night time.
No, no, execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the
hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest my wrath
go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of
your evil deeds. So he's speaking to the House of
David. He's specifically speaking to
the rulers, and he's saying, oh, rulers, it's your job that
you've neglected to execute justice.
What time of the day? In the morning?
In other words, we're being told here that the priority of the
activity of the king is to administer justice.
First thing of the day is to occupy the seat of justice and
to give judgement and to administer wisdom and to give
consultation and as a result to see the oppressor free and to
see people experience God's righteousness through that
vessel of a king. And so we see here that the
morning they are to be busy and what does Solomon say?
Woe to your land when your Princess feast instead of
fulfilling their God-given role as a king in the land.
Here's the larger principle. Misguided priorities are
spiritually deadly for you and for others, especially if
whatever you try to replace your God-given responsibility with,
even if it's in the pursuit of pleasure or delight, it will
kill you and it will harm others.
Woe to you, O land, when your Princess feast in the morning,
when Jeremiah says you're supposed to be busy doing
something else in the morning, O kings.
And so we have to understand that if we do not properly frame
our interactions and our activities, then we're in
trouble. And that's what we see in the
next verse of Ecclesiastes 10. The reward of doing it the way
God calls us to do it. Happy are you old land?
When your king is the son of
nobility and your Princess feast, when does it say it?
Oh, it's not there at the proper time.
A feasting is not wrong. When they feast in Ecclesiastes
10/17 at the proper time. The morning is not the proper
time. There are other times where
you're supposed to be doing that.
And notice this when they feast. Yes, for strength and not for
drunkenness. So a righteous king does not
just eat for delight, he eats for strength.
And so he's not mastered by anything.
He's ultimately mastered by his God-given call.
And he sees anything else that's inferior to that as a means, as
instruments for him to better do what God's called him to do and
be effective where God's called him be effective.
So he eats, yes, he feasts, but it's his fuel, it's his energy
and he does not allow any delight, any delight.
I don't care what that delight is, whether it's a morsel or
it's a person, or it's your job, or it's your endeavors or it's
your hobbies. Nothing will distract him from
his ultimate responsibility of glorifying God in the context
that he's been called. Never forget, listen, that
self-control will prosper you. self-control is a lost art and
it's rarely proclaimed from the pulpit for fear of being
indicted by the people of being legalistic.
It's biblical. And don't be those Christians
that look at things in the Bible that are clear and call it
legalistic just because you don't like it.
People do that. It's legalism.
No, it's actually Bible. Legalism is when you take your
ideas and impose them on the scripture or you take light
things and make the major things.
But when it's clear, it's a command and we are people who
obey commands. Yes, we people who love the
grace of God. Happy are you O land.
self-control doesn't just prosper you, it prospers others
around you. Notice he didn't say happy are
you O king? He says happy are you O land.
In other words, yourself control and your scripturally framed
priorities will bless everything around you.
It's going to bless your marriage.
It will bless your marriage. It will bless your relationship
with your friends. It will bless your finances.
It will bless your business. It will bless your local church.
But when you refuse to by the power of the Holy Spirit
exercise that self-control that leads to a more prosperous life.
Listen to this. It is a sure destination to a
slow spiritual suicide. So Ela was found drunken,
doesn't say if he was there in the morning, but he was there in
the morning. Excuse me?
He was there in Azra's house, and whether there he was in the
morning or not, Zimmering knew of his whereabouts.
For him to be able to come and do what he did and to commit
this great crime. So it shows, I believe, that Ela
was in that place in a frequent way, and I'm sure that he was
there in the morning as well. And this is what led ultimately,
not ultimately, but it did contribute to his death.
And Speaking of suicide, that is what will stand out in the next
King's story. Let's go to it together.
We'll skip verses 11 to 14 as it gives us a familiar commentary
about why this king was judged and why he was ultimately
destroyed by God. But let's come down to Zimri
story. In the 27th year of ASA, king of
Judah, Zimri reigned 7 days in tears.
That's got to be a world record of some sort.
Seven days. Imagine being a king for a week.
We thought two years were short. Seven days now the troops were
camped against Gibbethan which belonged to the Philistines.
We talked about Gibbethan last week and the troops who were
encamped heard it said Zimri has conspired and he has killed the
king. Therefore all Israel made Umri
the commander of the army, king over Israel.
That day in the camp saw Umri went up from giveth on and all
Israel with him and they besieged Tirza.
And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the
citadel of the King's house and burned the King's house over him
with fire and died. What a gruesome way to die
because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the
sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his
sin which he committed, making Israel to sin.
Now the rest of the acts of Zimri and the conspiracy that he
made, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of
the Kings of Israel. So Zimri now, who killed by Asha
and his household, he fulfilled the word of the Lord by the
mouth of Jehu, He reigns and he reigns for a week.
And in that week, we learned that he assumed too much.
He seizes the throne. And because of him seizing the
throne, we see that because of the lack of things taking place
so quickly, as they do in our day, word went about in a matter
of a few days that Zimri has become king.
And Zimri again made this decision without realizing an
important factor of becoming a king, especially in the way that
he did it. You need people to support you.
And he didn't have the popular vote.
In fact, when everybody heard Zimri becomes king, they go.
He doesn't he, he's not supposed to be the king.
Omri should be the king. And so they elect Omri.
Omri has the entire support of the nation of Israel.
And what happens? They besiege the capital.
Zimri looks out of his window and he sees that he is
surrounded by the people that he thought that he was going to
rule and that they were going to accept them.
And this is this is his decision.
I have no chance. Because as you know, the pattern
of this time was if a rival person was to come and attack
your throne, they would not only attack you and ask you to kindly
move and say some mean things to you, they would kill you and
they would kill your descendants and kill everyone associated
with you so that there would be no usurping in the future.
So Zimri knows that he's finished.
And So what does he do? He's, he chooses to finish
himself. I'll, I'll just do the job on my
own. This is one of a few accounts
and records of suicide in the Bible.
This is one of them. There's actually a total of
seven. And to make this a little bit
more interactive, I'm curious to know if you know some of them.
Can you tell me the different records in the Scripture where
we're told of a man who committed suicide?
Samson is 1. One at a time.
I'll just lift your hands so we don't talk over each other,
please. Yes, Judas is the obvious one.
So let me, let me put it this way.
Now, there's only one in the New Testament that our brother just
mentioned, and the rest are in the Old Testament.
We ought to be dealt with. Samson, Judas.
Yes, Saul, very good. Saul is another one.
So that's three. Any other ones?
All right, if you remember, let us know.
Oh, that's that's one that people don't have to get.
But you got to figure out the name.
I can't just give it to you. You're on it, though.
You're on it. I'll give you a hint.
He's in the book of Judges. Samson is in the book of Judges.
But there was somebody else before him who committed this
grievous act of self murder. He was the son of a very notable
figure, one that you hear about in your Sunday school
curriculum. He's the son of somebody who God
told him to diminish his army down to a few 100.
Do you know? I saw, yes, Abimelech.
Abimelech is the first one. Yes, absolutely.
In Judges Chapter 9. Then there is Samson.
Then there is Saul. We touched on Zimri.
We touched on Judas. There's two others.
Two others. I think Volvo is another one.
Yes. When he realized that his plot
was not honored by Absalom, he went home and he put his house
in order and he hung himself. There's one more.
OK, that was something else.
That was actually an act of murder, but that's a good guess.
There's one more. I'll give you a hint.
I'll just give you one hint, Saul.
That's all I'm going to say. And then we have to move forward
because I don't want this to drag too, too long.
Saul's the hint. Saul's armor bearer.
You got it. Good job.
Yes. When Saul killed himself, the
armor bearer thought, OK, I might as well join him.
So those are the seven accounts. And I argue that there could
have been, I'm sure there could have been more that.
But there is a close call of another New Testament individual
who could have been mentioned along with this horrific list of
people who have come to such desperation in their lives.
Can you think of a New Testament person who was close to
committing that act but was spared?
What's that? The Philippian jailer?
Can I show you that in Acts 16 verse 27 there could have been
another suicide record in the Bible, but it was prevented by
something that, listen you and I must believe is able to rescue
anyone from such despair, even if such despair reaches a point
where self murder seems to be a better alternative.
Read this with me in Acts 1627. When the jailer woke and saw
that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about
to kill himself. Supposing that the prisoners had
escaped. Why would the jailer want to
kill himself realizing that the prisoners had escaped?
That could be one idea. Yes, his authorities would have
killed him. Yes, I think that's more likely
that the authorities would have given him the verdict of these
prisoners and for letting them escape, they would have now put
him to the butcher's block. And so he thought to himself,
I'm finished. Like my, my, my authorities are
merciless. So let me just let just like
Jimmy, let me just do the job myself.
But something prevented him. Two men who were so filled with
God, two men who had the hope of the gospel, who brought this man
to salvation. So here you have an individual
that's ready, who's so hopeless, who's so overcome with grief and
concern and worry, with a bleak future, but was apprehended by
two men who, instead of escaping for their own benefit, chose to
remain in order to provide hope. Hey, we're still here.
Don't do this to yourself. And then this man asked, as he
trembled and fell before them, What must I do to be saved?
What provoked the jailer to say that this hardened, brutal,
tough man, to be weak in the knees and to be melted like
this, to say what must have to be saved?
Well, remember, before this and before the earthquake, you had
two men, the same men who were singing hymns and praying to God
at midnight, and they were heard.
And I'm sure the jailer heard it too, and I'm sure something was
trying to register in his mind. How do you have these two guys
that have fresh wounds in their back, who are bleeding, who are
bruised, who are battered? How is it that they have so much
hope? What is it that they believe in
that can have them singing in this way, though, treated in
this way? I want to know what they have.
People often ask, is it possible for a true Christian to commit
suicide? And the way I answer is this,
that in a moment of extreme weakness, in a season of
incredible challenges, a Christian is capable of many
things. Is that not true?
But what I will say with that is that if there is somebody who
professes Christ and consistently contemplates and
justifies something as severe as suicide, you and I have every
right to challenge that person to examine the sincerity of
their faith. And the reason why I say that is
because the Bible characterizes Christians in many ways.
And one of the ways is that Christians are overcome by this
thing called hope. We are a hopeful people, not
wishful thinking, not just hope for a thing to come.
When I pass from this life, a hope that is so weighty and such
an anchor to our lives that it brings about deliverance day by
day. The Christian is characterized
by hope. And what is suicide?
Ultimately, it's an act of total and ultimate hopelessness, one
that convinces you because you do not believe you have purpose
or that the things around you happening have purpose.
And I want to show you by way of example how this hope is not
just a tenet of our faith or something that we kind of throw
around as Christians is something that has real impact
on the life of a believer. So Paul says something in Second
Corinthians 18 where he is ambiguous in the nature of his
trial, but he says this trial that we are enduring is so
intense that we despaired of life itself.
Paul is saying that we're not talking about a weak Christian
here. We're talking about a strong, if
not the strongest example of what a Christian should look
like and live like. And yet even such a man was
susceptible to such a temptation, where he says in
Second Corinthians 18, Let me read it to you in his own words,
for we do not want you to be unaware, brothers.
Of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly
burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life
itself. This was so overwhelming.
This was so overbearing, this was so consuming that we
thought, man, I can't live like this.
And yet 2 verses later in verse 10, notice what he says.
He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver
us on him. We have set our what?
Our hope. So this Christian hope, this
gospel hope, this Christ centered hope is powerless,
powerful enough to deliver you from the powerful temptation of
despairing of life itself. You know this is true or this is
just poetic license. No, it's true.
It's real, and it changes people.
So, yeah, a Christian is capable of much in a place, in a season,
even in a moment of extreme grief, pain, confusion,
frustration. But I would say, one who
consistently entertains and justifies such an act, those
around it and him himself, must call for an examination of the
sincerity of that faith, as you would any other sin that one
would justify, and consistently meditate on thinking that they
are allowed to do it. So we come to our 4th king.
And verse 21. Then the people of Israel were
divided into two parts. Half of the people followed
Tibney the son of Ganath to make him king, and half followed
Omri. This is a mess.
OK, so you already have the nation divided in two, and now
we're focused on the northern part.
And within the northern tribes you have another division.
Sin divides, Sin splits up. A Kingdom that is divided in
this way cannot stand. And so now you have two parts
within the one part and you have half the people who follow this
guy named Tibney and the other half who want to follow this guy
that they like the name Umri. And what I find so interesting
is a brief note is that before we read earlier that all of
Israel wanted Umri and now half of the people want to don't put
any stock in the recognition and praise from people.
It's very short lived. It's very fickle.
One day they praise you, the next day they condemn you.
So don't put too much, don't put any rather of your identity, of
your esteem, of your joy and what people have to say, because
one day they want you to be there and the next day want
somebody to replace you. So now we read that the people
wanted this other king, but Omri was a brilliant general.
So in verse 22. But the people who followed Omri
overcame the people who followed Tibney, the son of Ghanaut.
So Tibney died and Omri became king in the 31st year of ASA,
king of Judah. Umri began to reign over Israel
and he reigned for 12 years, Six years he reigned in Tirza.
He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of
silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the
city that he built Samaria after the name of Shemer, the owner of
the hill. So Tirza was the capital for
quite some time of the Northern Kingdom.
Under Omri's administration, he transfers the capital over to a
place called Samaria. Why?
Because strategically it made sense.
It was a hill. There was geographical advantage
to that. You had created greater
difficulty for any invasion, and you had a greater outlook of the
horizon and your surroundings. So this makes sense from a
military standpoint. But we read on and we see
something that is crushing, because despite any
accomplishment, the Spirit of God does not speak highly of
this man. Verse 25.
Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more
evil than all who were before him.
So if Zimri broke the record of the shortest reign in Israel's
history, Omri broke the record of reaching to new lows for the
evil one can commit. As a king, he did more evil than
all who were before him. For he walked in all the way of
Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, and in the sins that he made Israel
to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel to anger by their
idols. What did Omri do?
We're not told in detail, but we do have an indication of another
place because he's barely mentioned in the Bible.
But in this one other place where he is mentioned, we have
an idea of the caliber of his wickedness.
It's an interesting place in the Bible.
Mark it down if you don't want to turn there now, I'll read it
to you and Micah. In Micah 6, verse 16, the
prophet pronounces an indictment against that generation, and
this is the explanation of their ways.
For you have kept the statutes of Omri and all the works of the
House of Ahab. So based on this, Omri was not
just like a silly Sinner, right? He was not just this kind of
foolish man who was just self absorbed and did things here and
there. This man created laws that
encouraged and discipled an entire generation and nation
into sin. He had laws.
Laws are contrary to God's laws. Laws that perhaps even punish
those who would not submit to his desires.
He had statutes. And I believe that indicates the
level of evil that this man was consumed by, that he caused
other people to intentionally sin by way of legislation, by
way of even punishment in terms of disobeying what he had asked
of them. And so this man was evil.
He was wicked. And if you think this man was
bad, our final king will prove otherwise.
But let me say this as a side note.
If you're one who enjoys history and you like to see how world
history coincides and correlates and complements biblical
history, look up Omri and you'll realize that there are ancient
artifacts from the Moabites and the Assyrians that mention Omri
by name. And I just like those things
from time to time because they are just Nuggets of God's
providential preservations to show us that this Bible is, in
fact, true. And so Omri was mentioned
because he was praised even by neighboring nations of being a
very successful commander and leader at this time in history.
Look it up for yourself. But let's come to our final king
as we close our Bible study. You know this man, I'm sure it's
the son of Omri. His name is Ahab.
Look at verse 29 with me in the 38th year of ASA.
Remember, every single king that we've touched on so far has been
during the reign of ASA. In the 38th year of ASA, king of
Judah, Ahab the son of Umri began to reign over Israel.
And Ahab the son of Umri reigned over Israel and Samaria 22
years. And Ahab, the son of Emory, did
evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before
him, including his father. And here is what he is notorious
for. Here's what is underscored and
emphasized about Ahab. Verse 31.
Look at how the spirit inspired the author to write this.
And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the
sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, he took for his wife
Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbao, king of the Cydonians.
It's like, as though it wasn't enough for him to do what
Jeroboam did. You know what Ahab did?
He married a woman named Jezebel.
For somebody to speak like that about your wife says something
about this woman, and you're
going to discover that. Though Ahab imitated the faults
of many perform, including Solomon, who imported much
idolatry through his political marriage alliances, the
impression that you're supposed to get by reading this is that
Jezebel is going to cause more problems than Solomon's 1000
wives combined. She's going to cause more issues
to the Kingdom of Israel than all those other women who
preceded her. And that is something that you
and I have to brace ourselves for.
And we get a hint of it already here.
Notice verse 31. Jezebel, the daughter of Ethel,
king of the Cydonians. And the next part is meant to
show us that because of Jezebel's influence over Ahab,
this is what happens. And went and served Baal and
worshipped him. Look at verse 32.
He erected an altar for Baal in the House of Baal, which he
built in Samaria. Now we've seen kings before this
build temples and high places and stations of false worship
here and there. But what we're supposed to see
here is that Ahab takes it to another level, because Ahab does
build this House of worship, but in the capital city of the
northern Kingdom. And though most of these wicked
kings are being compared to Jeroboam, when Jeroboam
introduced idolatry to the northern tribes, he made an
attempt to try to refashion the religion of Yahweh.
And so he tried to incorporate this thing with the truth that
they were familiar with. He tried to even mimic the
feasts and all of that, right? So he's trying to do this thing
where you get the flavor of the Lord's truth, and he's bleeding
it in with his own ideas. But that's not what what Ahab
does. Ahab is not looking to
integrate. He's not looking to mingle.
He's not looking to any of that. Ahab is looking to completely
replace Yahweh from the minds and the devotions and the
worship of the nation of Israel. So he under Jezebel's leading
institutes, Baal worship, listen as the state religion for
Israel. And Jezebel would be so
ferocious in her pursuit of wanting Baal to be recognized
that she will even hunt down the prophets of the Lord, as you and
I are about to discover in the coming chapters.
So this is a a new campaign, a new kind of campaign where
Israel's existence as being distinct, as a covenant people
is now on the brink of extinction.
This is serious, this is severe, this is heartbreaking.
Jericho, he laid its foundation at the cost of a Byram, his
first bullet. Cursed be the man who rebuilds
the walls of the city, and cursed be the man who rebuilds
it. At what cost?
At the cost of his first born shall he lay its foundation, and
at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.
There was a permanent perpetual curse looming over the people if
anyone would entertain and execute the resurrection of the
city of Jericho, and this man does it.
But what's the connection? Look at the 1st 3 words of verse
34. In his days.
Whose days? The days of Ahab.
You know what this is meant to convey.
Ahab as a leader created such an atmosphere in such an
environment that it encouraged people to do the unthinkable.
Leaders have that kind of an influence.
You have this individual here who felt confident enough to
challenge God's curse and check this out.
At the laying of the foundation, the eldest dies and he doesn't
even stop there. He continues to complete the
project at the death and at the cost of his other son's life.
You're saying what wouldn't Hail be familiar with this curse?
Most likely. But what does it mean for
somebody to do such a thing, even at the price of losing his
sons, when you have been living in an environment where you're
conditioned to sacrifice your children?
That's what people were doing day in and day out around them.
And so it meant nothing at this point of Israel's history to
give up your children. We've been doing this in the
Northern Kingdom for quite some time.
And so it was effortless. It wasn't even a second thought
to do this grievous thing. And really what this meant to
show us is to give us just a little taste of the path that
Ahab as a ruler was leading this people into.
And at the same time, I would say that this is an act of God's
mercy towards Ahab, because in God honoring his word by
executing judgment in the way that he prophesied many
generations ago. You know what that would
communicate to Ahab and Jezebel? I take my word seriously.
I'm not playing around here. Ahab Jezebel, you think that you
can bring in Baal to eclipse my glory in this place?
Realize that by doing so, and let me show you by way of
example, that I am looking at you.
I'm marking you, and I will execute vengeance against you.
If anything, like we've seen with Jeroboam, this was meant to
awaken Ahab to his senses and to repent before he he met a
similar fate and they would meet similar fates in years to come.
Here's an here's a practical truth you could draw from this
and seeing he all do this under the leadership of Ahab.
Leaders have to realize this sobering rule.
As a leader, you are leading people in a direction whether
you are intending to do so or not.
By people choosing to submit under your direction, you will
bear the responsibility of where you lead.
People do not covet the place of leadership, my friend, And those
who currently stand as leaders understand that there are souls
under your care, especially if you're in the place of an elder.
So this is a sobering reminder that your holiness can rub off
on others, and your lack of holiness can equally rub off on
others. What you do in your private
life, what you do before the people of God, how you treat
this word, all these things that you have to factor in does not
remain with you. It will spill over to others.
Now, that is the rule, a sobering one for leaders.
But there's also a warning for those who are not leaders.
For those who are not leaders, hear me very carefully.
You have to make a conscious and calculated choice in your life,
especially in your spiritual life, about which leadership you
choose to sit under. People often ask what should I
look for in a local church? And this is my go to answer.
Look at the leadership of that church.
Look at the leadership of the church because the leadership
will ultimately determine the direction of that church.
The leadership will ultimately determine the reverence and the
esteem and the obedience and the standard of that local body.
So if you want to know if this is a place that I want to commit
to, look no further than those who are in charge and you'll get
everything that you need to know about whether or not this church
is healthy or not. So be careful who you choose to
sit under. Be careful men, especially the
men here who are now seeing not just the blessing of marriage,
but the blessing of babies coming into your life.
You have to also make a choice today, tomorrow, every day for
the rest of your life, as long as you're in this world.
Who am I going to allow to speak spiritual truths to my family
every week? These are things that we must
give ear to. And this is not going to be the
last time we hear of Ahab. In fact, for the rest of the
Book of First Kings, he's going to be the main feature of
Israel's history at this time. And I'm excited to see what God
does when a leadership from a governmental standpoint, from a
spiritual leadership standpoint goes S what does God do?
You know what you're going to discover in First Kings 17?
He raises up men of God. I'm excited to get there.
Let's thank God for this Bible study, please.
Well, we know that it is not often that we examine a portion
of Scripture at this rate and at this pace, but we trust that
what's been said did something to our hearts.
And Lord, we pray that these truths would not be easily
forgotten, but we would have recall and we would be able to
remember them. We were able to connect them
with other truths. We were able to see the harmony
and the Symphony of the Word of God as we personally study
through it. And as we study through it
together, many truths from so many angles have come to us.
Lord, help us apply what you want us to apply.
And Lord, at the close of this service, we are grateful for the
weekly reminder that there is no King like the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we worship him in spirit and in truth.
As we look to you in song, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
There is no king like King Jesus.
Let's stand and worship him because he's the living King.