Thank you for listening to this sermon from Seven Springs Presbyterian Church. If you want to learn more about us, please find us on Facebook or visit us at SevenSpringsPresbyterian.com. Like I said we will be in 1 Kings chapter 21. We ended last week with verses 15 and 16, as soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead Jezebel said to Ahab, arise and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he had refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive but dead. And as soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead he arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. So we ended here on somewhat of a pretty depressing note last week. Important for us to be able to recognize the narrative of scripture especially in times and moments of this that you did definitely have a wicked king in Ahab. He carries out such an abhorrent, sinful act on someone like Naboth, a righteous person in the land of Israel which there are not many of them. As God had promised in 1 Kings chapter 19 verse 18 that He was going to leave a faithful remnant of those in which He had chosen who had not bowed the knee to Baal. And yet now we find in chapter 21 that Naboth, one of these people, most likely as we see that righteous man, he was unjustly murdered. We kind of cannot merely just glance over this simple fact. It's a stark reality that here while often God will save and his redeemed people, he saves that faithful remnant and keeps that faithful remnant. It doesn't mean that not everyone will not suffer the wickedness of the hands of others. You think about Moses, he saved Moses from being murdered at a young age, but there was many slaughtered children during that time. Moses was the one that God had saved, but even there God through this wickedness of there were many who were not saved. It seemed that wickedness did prevail in that time. And so here Naboth is murdered and not just Naboth, we find out later in 2 Kings that all of Naboth's sons and family is murdered as well. And again it wasn't merely some humane death, but a cruel execution with false accusations, stonings, Elijah's prophecy that the dogs would lick up the blood of Jezebel points out that this is exactly what happened in Naboth. He wasn't buried. He didn't have some form of service. He was murdered as a criminal, unjustly murdered. And here's where we ended last week. This is often a great time for us to be able to reflect and understand that this is an argument that is used against those who want to say, argue against the sovereignty of God. They say, how can a just and loving God allow things like this to be able to happen? How can God, who is all powerful and sovereign, why would He let this terrible thing happen? especially to righteous people, not merely just to anyone, to someone who is righteous and innocent. Naboth didn't blaspheme, but it was those who accused him who did, who falsely accused, who bear false witness against their neighbor, put to death by these national leaders who had turned away from God, not following his law, twisted and perverted law to be able to get their own ways. And they're the ones that are guilty of lying and blasphemy, breaking God's law. And so it is a truly difficult question for us to be able to grapple with. We cannot fully comprehend the mind of God or delve into the depths of his sovereign will and decrees. We can't fathom that as we read about in Isaiah chapter 55, that none of us in our finite minds can even begin to be able to understand God. But I think we need to be able to understand these three truths simultaneously. That if we're to be able to understand something of this atrocity that has happened in Naboth, then we must be able to understand some things about the world that the Bible teaches us. First, the Bible doesn't deny the existence of wickedness. Scripture acknowledges that there are such things as wicked deeds and wicked people. That evil in the world is real. It doesn't seek to be able to hide this or cover this up. And I think this is significant when we start to be able to look at civilizations that normally wouldn't adhere to Judeo-Christian beliefs, but specifically Christian understanding of morality taught in the Bible. That without this foundation, where do you get the understanding of what is right and what is wrong? Then right and wrong then become subjective. There's two avenues that most people can go to. The first is that you elevate the individual. And the individual is then left up to their own devices to be able to understand if something is right or wrong. They do what is right in their own eyes. Is the behavior that was in the end of Judges that all the people, there was no king in Israel and everyone was doing what is right in their own eyes? But you think about that played out, then what can happen is that your right and my right are completely different. Then what happens when you have a civilization, not just with two or three people, but millions of people? The morality is something that cannot be executed. Justice cannot be found. Well, that's what you believe is right. Well, I believe this. you're left up to your own devices. You can't argue for justice, because justice is something that the individual decides. But not only the extremists that individuals then choose, the extremists then, well, it's left up to society to then choose what right and wrong is. That it's based on vote. Let's vote, see who wins. Is this right or wrong? And what you end up there is atrocity again. Now this is one of the, I think, how many people understand how we find morality today in civilization. That they look and they say, well, we know more now, so therefore we're more educated to be able to find and find this moral ground. But then once you abandon any form of foundation of law that is found in any form of moral law, then you cannot condemn another civilization. You cannot look upon another civilization and say, well that is evil or that is wicked. Because what you end up doing is then, just like you have individuals who choose what is right and wrong, then you have civilizations that choose what is right and wrong. And then, therefore, not merely just in the space of history that we live in now, but throughout all history, then each civilization is able to decide what right is wrong. So you can't look back on a civilization that the majority said that slavery was right and say, well, that's wicked. Because you're applying your hermeneutic, you're applying your method of how you find what morality is to be able to find out if it's right or wrong. And three major things that I think come out of this, slavery, man stealing, and the Atlantic slave trade. You have the Holocaust, where the majority of people, although maybe blindly, participated and executed that horrific deeds, or even in modern day abortion. Even if people were to say that the majority of people have believed that abortion is morally right, that doesn't then make it right. There has to be something else that we look at. And that's what the Bible contrasts. It says there is such thing as the moral law. There is such thing as right and wrong. That you can look at a deed and be able to say that is wicked and evil and sinful. And we don't, it doesn't come from individual interpretation. It doesn't come from societies, and it comes from God's word. Now we would say that it's written upon the hearts of everybody, that the law is right before our eyes, that we know from the very beginning that Cain and Abel, murder was wrong, although there wasn't a very stipulation of this law that we have in the Ten Commandments. There was wicked and evil. And so now what we would say is the moral law is summarized in the Ten Commandments as we're looking in the morning service. That they're true and binding in every culture, time and place. And the Bible highlights this wickedness, evil deeds. And the Bible doesn't shy away from that. And so we need to be able to acknowledge when we see things that are wicked, we need to be able to label them and say this is wicked, this is atrocious, this is horrendous. And I think we can't move past that profound philosophical understanding and truth that the Bible does acknowledge wickedness. I think there's a great question to be able to ask people. When they start accusing Christians of being immoral, doing wicked things, you always have to ask, by what standard? You want justice, what is justice? How is there justice if there's no right and wrong? Who determines what right and wrong is? If you're left to the individual, it's chaotic. If you're left to society, then you can't judge anyone else. Only the society you're a part of, even in this particular time. The second thing that we need to be able to understand is the Bible clearly teaches that God is sovereign over all things. That nothing happens by chance, that everything comes from his fatherly hand. And I think we need to be able to acknowledge this as well. And again, we find great comfort in it, just as we find comfort in understanding that the Bible does call wickedness wickedness. That here God is working through this world, although wickedness ensues. That in Paul in Romans 8, 28, he says that he uses all things to work together for good. Thomas Watson points out that it's not merely that all things are good. God uses all things for good. that even wicked actions like the death of Abijah, as you remember, Jeroboam's son who died young in age. But what we saw there in God's sovereignty is that he died young in age because he saw something that was pleasing in Abijah. And so in God, in his sovereignty, although it seemed like this tragic death, was actually saving Abijah from this horrendous wrath that was to come. Or even that of Joseph, the great story I think that shows forth this. The wicked things that happened to Joseph. That Joseph in Genesis 50 verse 20 explains quite clearly that here the wicked deeds that his brothers had done, and he calls them wicked, the evil that you intended, God intended for good. So God is sovereign using those evil, wicked heart intentions of man to be able to bring about good. And so we need to be able to understand that God is sovereign over all things, even able to be able to use ordaining everything that shall come to pass for his purposes and for his ends. See this again in Romans chapter nine, what is Pharaoh's purpose? Pharaoh's purpose is as a vessel of wrath as he shows in chapter nine of Romans, that Pharaoh is a vessel of wrath, but God patiently waits for Pharaoh so that he might be able to save his chosen people. But the third thing that we need to be able to understand that I think is very difficult to grasp that we need to understand that God's sovereignty extends over all space and all time. That often when we look at wickedness, we look at it in a moment in time and can't understand the length and the depth of history that is to come. That while it appears that wicked people prosper, that they escape judgment, What Scripture often seeks us to be able to see and move forward is that God sees all, He knows all, and He will judge all according to His perfect justice. That God's judgment is often not immediate. As we see in the story of Naboth, Naboth is put to death, his whole family slaughtered. And at the end of verse 16, It seems that Ahab has got away with it. But as we see that that's not the actual end of the story. And so too when we see any wicked deeds, we must understand that God is sovereign not only just now, but also what is to come. The judgment might seem to be delayed, but it's certain. The prophet Habakkuk wrestled with this similar question of why these wicked people of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, were coming in to kill and take over God's chosen people. Why do the wicked prevail, he says. He's able to be able to end, to be able to see that there's more to God than what happens in this place in time. Although he understands that there's this absence of visible justice in his time, in his lifetime, before his eyes. God remains his source of salvation and his strength. Though the fig tree should not blossom or the fruit up beyond the vines, the produce of the olive fields yield no food. The flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herds in the stall. yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God of the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer's. He makes me tread on high places to the choir master with stringed instruments." We see, again, the Bible doesn't just affirm wickedness. The Bible doesn't just affirm sovereignty. The Bible affirms that God is sovereign over the judgment of this wickedness to come, even though we might see it. This is the theme that is echoed in Psalm 73, that as Asaph looks towards the wicked in the world, hear how he describes the wicked people that he's seen. Pride is their necklace. Violence is their garment. Eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice. Lofty they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against heaven and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. And they say, how can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease. They increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I would have stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children." Here's Asaph as he looks in the world and he looks at the wickedness. The wicked are prospering. The people are turning back from following God to follow this wicked people. that when he seeks to be able to do that, he finds himself in this wearisome task. There's a shift, there's a change. Again, he sees the wickedness in the world, he understands God is sovereign over all of it, but he also understands that God is not finished and not done yet. That God is just and he is gonna carry out his just judgment on the wicked. that I, he saw this wickedness and this wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of the Lord. Then I discerned their end. He was able to see that they're prospering now, but their end is destruction. This folly will expire. Again, the psalmist affirms these wicked deeds. He doesn't call them anything else. The people are real. it's always God's sovereignty over this and His justice that is coming. No one escapes it. Again Paul in Romans chapter 9 verse 22, what if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. God shows them patience even though their end is destruction. is what he did with Pharaoh, to be able to display God's power and his sovereignty, that even in this world, as we see the wicked prosper, as we see justice not used, injustice ensues, not just in civil courts, even in church courts, if we were to see that happen. We need to be able to understand that not only wicked things do happen, The wicked things can go unpunished in this world, in this time where we live, but that does not mean that's their end. God's justice will prevail. This is what Dale Ralph Davids says, when you begin reading at verse 17, you must understand this did not occur because a news leak. The speaking God in verse seven is the omniscient God who saw. It looked like a slick job. with an airtight cover-up. Jezebel's letters had already been put through the shredder at City Hall. None of the shady details came out in the papers. Elijah himself apparently didn't know until Yahweh told him. Then the word of the Lord came. Yahweh did not let it pass. He saw, he intervened. Naboth bites the dust as a helpless victim, yet Yahweh is the God who sees. the helpless naboths, and their lifeless forms amid the stones. We need to be able to understand that as we see why do wicked things happen, we can say wicked things do happen, that God is still sovereign, that God is even sovereign over tomorrow, not just what has happened. And this is where we find ourselves in tonight's passage, this change as we see what happens In verse 17, the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who is in Samaria. And behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. And you say to him, Thus says the Lord. Have you killed and also taken possession? And you shall say to him, Thus says the Lord. In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood. As Delruff Davis points out that here Elijah is going about his everyday business and yet God then speaks to Elijah. sure Elijah knows. It is always interesting to be able to understand how this actually happened. In 1 Kings chapter 19 it was in a quiet still voice. Samuel at the beginning of Samuel, 1 Samuel obviously hears God's voice and he thinks it is Eli's voice. So, he goes and asks Eli and Eli eventually tells him on the third time, well it is the Lord, ask the Lord to speak. And here Elijah's sitting there, whatever he's doing, and obviously you must be thinking in your mind, if you're Elijah, what has Ahab done now? What in the world? So I really have to go talk to him again. But that's exactly what Elijah did. Just as he appears on the scene in chapter 17 without the invitation of Ahab, so too he appears once more. I'm sure Ahab was looking and planning his vegetable garden where he's gonna plant all his vegetables and talking with his agriculturalist and landscaper and trying to set the plans. And then Elijah appears, comes and stands before Ahab. so this is exactly what he does. But we also need to be able to remember that one of the key things that we are looking at in these last chapters in 1 Kings is particularly how Ahab responds to the prophets. That we saw in chapter 21 that here there is a war coming and so Ahab prophets, several prophets are sent to be able to respond to Ahab. And look at this and understand what is happening. So, we need to be asking the question, what is said and how does then Ahab respond? This is the important thing that we are watching in these chapters that here the prophet of the Lord comes and how does Ahab respond? Now, we will look at that a bit next week because we will need to go into details about Ahab's repentance and understand what this is. It is helpful for us to be able to delve into that a little bit. This week we will finish up with Ahab and his interactions. So Elijah hears from the Lord that he is going to be able to go warn Ahab of what is to come. And so Ahab sees Elijah and just as Elijah probably said, what has Ahab done now? Ahab is probably like, you again? I thought we were done with this. And this is exactly how he responds in verse 20. As Ahab said to Elijah, have you found me, O my enemy? And then Elijah answers, he says, I have found you because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Now again, how does Ahab respond to the prophet? When the prophet walks in, when you go and see your loved family members, you might say, hello, honey, or how was your day? But Ahab, when he sees Elijah, he turns around and says, have you found me, O my enemy? He calls him an enemy. Again, this should be an important marker as we think about Ahab and how he interacts with prophets. That he saw Elijah, not as a friend, not as someone serving God, but an enemy of him. Now here Elijah comes, not because he likes seeing Ahab. Surely Elijah had many more things to be able to do. But a part of his calling as prophet, as God's messenger, was to speak forth God's words. And Ahab, when he sees him, calls him his enemy. And we need to be able to understand that this is not merely again this personal conflict that Ahab and Elijah have some gulf feud that they cannot work out. This is their positions and their offices that they hold that Ahab is king of God's people. to be held accountable not by himself, by his own law that he makes. He's being held accountable by God's law which is often given to them by God's covenant attorneys. That the prophets come and reveal God's Word and Law to them and And here Ahab is rejecting, not Elijah the person, but Elijah as the prophet, the messenger of God. This is what the Lord said to Samuel, that when Samuel says that they're not listening to me, they're not listening to what you have to say, God turns around and says, well, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me. And so Ahab is not merely rejecting Elijah as a person, he's rejecting him as a prophet, that he sees a prophet of God, a true prophet of God, as an enemy. And so we need to be able to understand this truth. We also need to be able to see how Elijah responds, and it's quite discomforting, if we're honest. In verse 20, as he calls him his enemy, Elijah responds and says that, I have found you. The reason why I have found you is because you sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. That Elijah came to Ahab because of this transaction he did. It's quite an interesting phrase as we think about it. What does it mean to be able to sell yourself? What we see quite here is a transaction happening. That here, Ahab thought that he could buy Naboth's property for gold and silver or another vineyard. He thought that was the transaction. And when that didn't work, then he thought he didn't need to pay anything to be able to get this vineyard. But Elijah pointed out you did have to pay something. Something more than the gold and silver, something more than another vineyard. You paid a high price. But Ahab didn't sell his possessions, he sold his soul. He sold himself. Now we might look at this and say all Ahab did was steal something that was not his and take a life. The way you look at it merely as a physical perspective. He did something wrong externally, but here we need to understand that this sinful transaction actually is a transaction of the soul. And often when we think about sin, we often think about the physical nature of sin. We think of what sin is. When you sin against a brother or sister, when you hurt someone else, you're doing harm to them. We don't often think about sin as a transaction of the soul. That Ahab was willing to be able to sell his soul to be able to have this land. We'll see later in 1 Kings, in verse 25, that there was none who sold himself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, like Ahab. And I often don't think we think about this transaction that takes place when we sin. How often do we think of our sins as something that is a transaction of selling ourselves? That sin is a transaction of the soul. But this is exactly what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 16. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and profits and forfeits his soul? What's Jesus talking about? This transaction. gaining possessions at the expense of his soul. Or what shall a man give to return for his soul? That is even more discomforting. Not only that you can sell your soul, but how then do you get it back? Sin is in transaction in time and place. How do you then return that? It's exactly what Peter says as he speaks to Ananias. Why Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back yourself part of the proceeds of Lent. Here there's this transaction that is taking place, deeper than just merely holding money back. 1 Timothy chapter 6, for those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare. into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils, as though is this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." There's a transaction happening. Paul, what he says about even us in Romans chapter 7, for we know the law is spiritual, but I'm of the flesh, sold under sin. There's a transaction that is happening in sin. And how often in our world, in our time, in our life, even in our week, even today, have we made sinful, foolish transactions for merely short-lived or short-gain returns. Ahab was willing to be able to commit these horrendous, heinous sins all for this vineyard so he could have a vegetable garden. He would sell his soul so he could have a vegetable garden. Now it seems quite silly, but how often do we do the same thing? Do we do it all the time? How bankrupt are we? not only just in the world and society, but personally. How quick we are to be able to make these sinful transactions for short-lived, for fleshly pleasures, for gluttony and earthly treasures. Gaining these treasures and thinking that they're where our security lies. Sinful desires, feeling good about ourselves with pride and arrogance. Been right. But Ahab was willing to sell his soul, to sell himself for this wickedness. And I think we need to understand that it's a high price to pay. This is the price that eventually it will cost him. Ahab thinks he gets away with it. But that judgment that is coming is foretold in verses 21 and 22. That I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up. I will cut off from Ahab every male bond or free in Israel. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Dabat, and the house of Bashar, the son of Ahijah. For the anger to which you have provoked me and because you have made Israel to sin." That often when we see the promises of God that I will, there's a positive promise. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. But sometimes there are promise just as certain of judgment to come. He tells Ahab four things that he's going to do. That I'm going to bring disaster upon you. I'm going to burn you up. He's going to cut off Ahab. Not just Ahab himself, but every male bond and free. Now again it is interesting that here to be able to cut off is also the same word used in 1 Kings chapter 20 verse 34 when it says that here that Ahab makes a covenant with Ben-Hadad. When you made a covenant you would cut a covenant. That is the way the terminology you would use. You would cut an animal, you would walk between the animal and you would say, so too would happen to you. if you break your vows of this covenant. And here, now Ahab has been cut off. He is an enemy of God. The final thing he says that he's gonna make his house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the house of Bashar, the son of Ahijah. Now, it's been a long time since we've looked at those, but the exact same outcome. You think this rise of this great and glorious kingdom will survive God's judgment? Just as Jeroboam was dethroned and his son, just as Bashar and his son were dethroned, so too is going to happen to Ahab. We also not merely just see that God tells him that this is coming, He also tells us a reason why, that we must understand God's judgment is not, you looked at me funny. There's a reason why God's judgment is foretold and he tells him that for this anger you have provoked me and because you have made Israel sin. And we've looked at this in several times, but here this provoking is a violation of the second commandment, worshiping God in false ways or worshiping false idols. that they would provoke God to anger with their high places as they moved to jealousy with their idols in Psalm 78 verse 58. In Jeremiah 7 it speaks that the children gather wood and their fathers kindle fire and the women knead dough to make cakes for the king, queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. Is it whom is that I whom they provoke, declares the Lord, is not themselves to their own shame. We'll see this again next week when, in verse 26, He acted abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites have done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel. And so here he's provoked the Lord to anger through his setting up and continuing the false practices of worship, mainly the setting up of Asherah, the worshiping of Baal, building a house of Baal in Samaria. But we also, not merely just his own actions, but this implication of how he is the covenant head, the person as the king of God's people, has led God's people to sin. Just as in chapter 19, those who have not bowed the knee to Abba El are commended as God preserves them. There's also the people that have bowed the knee to Baal, and they're accountable, they're responsible for their own actions, but Ahab takes a special place as king as he establishes these places for people to worship Baal. And he makes them to sin as well. But we also see another aspect to this judgment, not just Ahab, not just to what he has done to Israel, but specifically Jezebel. who Jezebel incites him to evil. We'll talk about this a little bit next time. But here, the Lord turns not just to Ahab, but also specifically calls out Jezebel. And of Jezebel, the Lord also said, the dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel. Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city, dogs shall eat. Anyone who dies in the open country, the birds of the heavens shall eat. It's hard to imagine after having Queen Elizabeth II pass away and the royal funeral in which she had, the display of the visitations and all the body, how they placed her body and the ceremony that's surrounding that. And yet, members of the household of King Ahab are going to die a horrid, atrocious death, just like Naboth did. Naboth wasn't buried. And so too, this is the fate that is going to come upon Ahab and his family. But we need to be able to see that transition, that change. What a difference it is from verse 16 to verse 24. At 16, Ahab and Jezebel were probably smiling about what they thought they had gotten away with. They're probably so happy about this beautiful vegetable garden that they're going to plant. After these dogs lick up this blood of Naboth and his family, what a beautiful place this will be. But then in comes God's covenant attorney, his prophet who warns him of what is to come that God saw. And God's judgment is coming. Now how does AHAB respond? We'll have to look at that next week, but we'll stop there. Thank you for listening to this sermon from Seven Springs Presbyterian Church. If you want to learn more about us, please find us on Facebook or visit us at sevenspringspresbyterian.com. Seven Springs Presbyterian Church began in 1874 and is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America located in Glade Spring, Virginia. Please join us for worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for His glory and His gospel.