[0:00] 1 Kings chapter 21, 1 Kings 21. Last week we were talking about when God says that's enough.
[0:26] And we were talking about the fact that it's been five or six years since Elijah and Ahab have been in the same room together.
[0:41] And Elijah's been kind of just out of the way since he had his depression, since he went up to Mount Horeb. He's just kind of been out of the way. Then we talked about the fact that Ahab did some things to Naboth.
[0:58] And God says, okay, it's time for you to go talk to Ahab again. Spend some time with him and tell him what's what. And we talked about the fact that God declared the mission that he had for Elijah.
[1:12] And that was starting in verse 17 and on. And he was going to go talk to him, tell him the things that he was doing were wrong. They were sin. And he needed to repent of it.
[1:24] It was a comfort to Elijah in the fact that Elijah's, like I said, it's been five or six years. He's been kind of off to the side whether he was training Elisha and getting him ready.
[1:36] You know, that could have been part of what was going on. But we haven't heard too much out of him lately. But God's grace extends to us. Even though he'd gone through the hard time, even though he'd had struggles, God's a God of second chances, we talked about.
[1:54] And God always will give us another chance to serve him. And then we talked about God's grasp of the situation. It wasn't in those five or six years he didn't know what Ahab was doing.
[2:05] He knew exactly what Ahab was doing. And he had control of the situation. And he knew the cause for reason Ahab was having the sin in his life.
[2:21] Did anybody go home and read the first 16 verses? Nope. Okay. The first 16 verses of chapter 21, Ahab sees Naboth.
[2:35] Naboth has a vineyard that borders up against his palace. And he takes excellent care of it and everything. Well, Ahab decides he wants it.
[2:46] And so he goes to Naboth. He said, I'll buy it from you. Or if you don't want to sell it, I will swap it. You give me this one, I'll give you another one. But just let me have this one that's up against my palace.
[2:59] But Naboth doesn't want to. It's land that's been in his family for generations. And he hopes to carry it on to future generations. He doesn't want to give up the inheritance he has.
[3:12] And so this is why Ahab has such a struggle. Because someone said no to him. Matter of fact, you're there in chapter 21.
[3:26] Go back to the beginning of the chapter. Look at verse 4. You read that.
[3:59] What is that basically happening? He's having a temper tantrum. Exactly. Ahab's having a temper tantrum. Because somebody said no. And so Jezebel's going to take his side, of course.
[4:12] And she's going to work out a plan. And if you read on, find out she worked out a plan where she told the elders of the city, have a party. Make Naboth the center of attention.
[4:26] Make everybody, you know, it's a party celebrating something he's done or something or other. And then somebody's going to make an accusation. There are going to be two guys. They're going to make accusations about blasphemy and stuff.
[4:38] He blasphemed against God. He blasphemed against the king and stuff. So they wind up stoning him. Then she comes along and she says to Ahab, verse 15, Well, there's more than one way to get a piece of land, Jezebel says.
[5:19] And so she works on getting it. So this is what's been going on. And God says, okay, you sinned. And here's the sentence that you're going to have.
[5:30] You're going to wind up dying because of all of this. And remember I talked about when we give place to the devil. I ended there last week. Remember I told you the story about the guy with the nail over the front door.
[5:46] We can't give place to the devil. Not a little bit. So he says, Elijah, I got a job for you. Involves Ahab again. So God has a message delivered to Ahab.
[6:01] Look at verse 20. Verse 20 says, And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.
[6:13] Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Basha, the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.
[6:39] And for Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel, and him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.
[6:56] But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
[7:07] And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all the things as did the Amorites, which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
[7:18] He said a message to be delivered. And so let's have a word of prayer, and then we'll talk about what God said to them. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us to understand tonight what is going on here, how man's wickedness, how man's greed, how his wife's greed played into all of this.
[7:39] And Lord, it says they sold themselves to wickedness. They gave themselves over to the devil. They gave themselves over to do whatever they wanted to do.
[7:51] They didn't care about anybody else. They didn't care about you. Lord, they did whatever they wanted to do. Lord, help us to learn tonight from this, that we need to keep our eyes on you and work toward helping those around us to know you as well.
[8:09] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So, here's the challenge. Go to Ahab. Give him the message. You notice how it started off? Who's the first one to speak?
[8:21] Ahab. In verse 20. Hey, it's you, my enemy. Hey, actually, Elijah was probably the best friend that Ahab had because he was the only one that told him the truth.
[8:32] Everybody else either bowed down to him, didn't say anything, and Jezebel, she didn't say, whatever you want, I'll get it for you. I'll take care of it.
[8:43] So, she's going to become the source of his trouble here for the most part. He listened to her, and she was a wicked, wicked person.
[8:55] You know, the man that tells you the truth is not your enemy. He's the one that's your friend. But, here's going to come a confrontation. Ahab, you're doing wrong.
[9:09] You have done wrong. You have sold yourself out to sin. It reminds you of David. Remember David and the sin with Bathsheba? And Nathan comes along and says, you're the man.
[9:22] You're the one. This caused all these problems. You're the one who did all this. And that's what Elijah's job is here with Ahab. You're the one. And Ahab, you know, kind of, I didn't do anything.
[9:35] I didn't touch Naboth. I didn't do anything there. If you want to blame somebody, blame Jezebel. She's the one who orchestrated all this.
[9:46] And Elijah's like, no, no, no. That's not going to fly. You knew exactly what she would do. You knew exactly how this was going to get handled. You knew you were going to get what you wanted. You know, it says, he sold himself.
[10:05] And it's an interesting play on words. The word that's used for sold means a habitual lifestyle given over to something, which he was. He gave himself over to sin. And he did it all the time.
[10:17] Anything he wanted. But it also has the idea to marry. And think about who he married. Jezebel. So here's Jezebel, who's not a Jew.
[10:29] She's an Amorite. Has all of these idols, all of these false gods. The one who, remember, when we go back to Mount Carmel, she was the one feeding the prophets of Baal and the others.
[10:41] She's taking care of them. She's providing for them. He said, so he's doing all this. And God said, you sold yourself to doing all these things. You gave yourself over to it.
[10:53] The only course of restoration is to repent. And the Bible tells us about confess your sins, eat faithful and just, forgive your sins, cleanse you from one, from, thank you, all our unrighteousness.
[11:12] Proverbs, keep your finger there in 1 Kings. Proverbs chapter 28. A verse you probably know, but Proverbs 28, verse 13.
[11:24] He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. He says, Ahab, you need to get rid of the sin.
[11:40] You need to change. But up to this point, Ahab has not. As much as he's been told, he's not changed at all. So, what's going to happen?
[11:53] The condemnation. Elijah delivers the message to him of what's going to happen. His family is going to cease. His kingdom is going to cease.
[12:05] There is going to be no more Ahab or his family. You know, it's an unpopular message, but it's one he needed to hear. It was a message from God.
[12:17] And the thing about the message is, first of all, it's personal. It was a personal message to him. You know, make no mistake about it, Ahab, I'm talking to you.
[12:31] Elijah's there looking him right in the eye, talking to him about all the things that have gone on and all the things that have happened. And he says, look, sinners cannot go unpunished and it's going to affect you.
[12:44] Second thing, it was perpetual. There was a guy, I can't remember who it was at the moment, but there was a guy who used to say, whatever you do in moderation, your children will do in excess.
[13:01] Whatever you do in moderation, your children will do in excess. And he says, look, your children, your posterity are not going to continue either.
[13:14] You're going to be taken care of, but they're not going to continue either. Because as bad as Ahab was, the kids were probably going to be worse. Think about that. And so, they say, nope, you're going to lose that as well.
[13:30] And then, the third thing is, it was very plain to Ahab. You read through this, you don't have any trouble understanding what's about to happen.
[13:42] It's very plain that, you know what, God has a message for you because of what you've done and here's the message and here's what's going to happen. Ahab wasn't going to walk away from Elijah and go, you know, that Elijah, he's a funny guy.
[13:59] I have no idea what he was talking about. That didn't make any sense to me at all. I don't know. No, he knew exactly what was going on. He wished he didn't understand. But it was plain as all get out that, you know, that even a man who was sold out to sin and as hard-hearted as Ahab was, he got it.
[14:18] He knew what was about to happen. You know, think about Ahab and all of these different things we have talked about over these number of weeks. first of all, he should understand that God is long-suffering.
[14:33] God has given him opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to change, to repent, to say, you know what? I was wrong.
[14:44] I sinned. I repent of it. Did not do it. He was finally coming to a day when all of those opportunities ran out.
[14:55] and he was left to the judgment of God. That's going to happen to people as well. There will be time when God says, okay, that's enough. No more.
[15:06] Third thing is when judgment comes because of the sin, it is a certain judgment. It is going to happen.
[15:17] It's going to take place. You know, the best thing for us to do when there's sin in our life is to stop and examine and get it taken care of.
[15:29] Get it, repent of it, confess it, ask God to cleanse it from your life. So, the message has been delivered to him.
[15:41] But even then, God's mercy is dispensed. even then, God's mercy is dispensed.
[15:52] Look with me beginning at verse 27. Verse 27, it says, And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, put on sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
[16:08] And the word of the Lord came to Elijah and Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring evil in his days, but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.
[16:28] Because he repented. Notice the repentance that he had. It says he got in sackcloth and ashes, he repented. You know, repentance is so important.
[16:39] You don't hear a lot about repentance anymore. You know, ask God to forgive you of the mistake. Ask God that, you know, I messed up here and I messed up.
[16:50] We don't call it sin, but he says, the sin needs to be repented of. What does it mean to repent?
[17:02] To turn away? This one guy put it this way. It's a change of mind that results in a change of action. Change of mind that results in a change of action.
[17:15] God, I have been going, Ahab has been going this direction. He has been walking in sin, he's been chasing after sin, going after sin. Finally, when this message is delivered, he repents.
[17:29] He turns around. He starts heading back this direction. He starts heading back toward God. 180 degree turnaround. You know, a number of places in the Bible, it talks about repentance.
[17:46] Luke chapter 13, verses 3 through 5, just part of it says, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
[17:57] He said, you have to repent. If not, there are consequences. Acts chapter 17, verse 30, and the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
[18:15] There were times men didn't know all the things that God had said. They didn't have the Bible. They didn't have things like we did. So they might not have understood everything. God would give them grace. He would give them time.
[18:27] But he says, now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Now you know the truth. Now you know what the word says. Now you know what I expect.
[18:40] Repentance is key to enjoying God's presence in our life. Enjoying his power in our life. So Ahab, it says there in 28 and 29, gets a respite.
[18:53] He gets a respite. God's not going to kill him. He's not going to take him out.
[19:07] He's going to give him some mercy. You know there's a verse in Ephesians 2, 4 and 5.
[19:19] It says, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.
[19:31] By grace are you saved. You can be the worst sinner in the world. Give your life to Christ. Give yourself over to him. Let him work and watch what he does.
[19:43] Watch the mercy and the grace that he has. Do you think he was alive to see what God did with his son?
[19:56] Nope. Nope. I think it was after he was gone. After he was gone with that office. Yep. So his repentance and seeing the mercy of God didn't change his kid.
[20:09] Nope. He is repentant. Yep. No, Jezebel winds up dying. We all know that one. But nope, it didn't change his kids when he said, you know what, I was wrong.
[20:21] Let me ask you this. Does Ahab ever sin again? Yeah. He's human. He sinned again. We'll probably talk about that some more next week.
[20:33] But he had learned his lesson here that God will forgive. You repent and God will forgive. Now, why not his kids?
[20:48] Because apparently from his actions and what he said, they didn't. And God knew that. You know, it talks about when a father sins, sometimes it's going to affect unto the third and fourth generation.
[21:03] So, you have to be very careful about what we do. And again, what we do in moderation, they'll take over and go run with it. So, when God says, that's enough, we need to learn to take and accept God's grace that he will forgive when we repent.
[21:27] In Hebrews chapter 12, you don't have to turn there, verses 5 through 11, you know, it talks about God will chastise. Why?
[21:39] Because he loves us. Just like a father loves his children. He will chastise his children because he wants them to do right. He wants them to go the right direction.
[21:50] He wants them to live right. God will chastise. Think of Samson. When Samson was going through all the things he did, he knew the difference but he would not follow God.
[22:05] And somebody put it this way, sin will blind you to its consequences, it will bind you in its power, and will grind you to powder.
[22:17] That's Samson. Sin blinded him, he was bound, and then you wind up grinding because of it. And that's what sin does to us.
[22:30] So, we need to stop and look at our lives periodically. Is God about to say that's enough? We tend to push the limits of sin at times, don't we? He says, is he about to say that is enough?
[22:44] We need to listen to him. Because sooner or later, he's going to pull off the covers we might be trying to hide under and say, you know what?
[22:57] You're acting just like Ahab. Stop. That's enough. We need to make sure we're walking with Jesus day by day, always looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
[23:12] Always keeping our eyes there. One or two more weeks on Elijah, then we're going to start something else. One or two more weeks on Elijah. Because we still got to get him riding off in a chariot.