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. 21 we begin the new chapter of 21 and after going through chapter 20 we saw how Ahab is, we broke it down into parts, but Ahab was how he dealt with God's enemy Ben-Hadad the king of Syria and how Ahab dealt with him and God showed His grace and favor upon Israel and through Ahab carrying out that destruction of the large number of people compared to the two flocks of goats that the size of Israel was. And God showed His might and His power. And yet in the end, how did Ahab respond? He didn't respond through worshiping God or giving glory to Him, but instead of renewing the covenant with God, he makes a covenant with Ben-Hadad. He would rather have Ben-Hadad as a friend than God as his Savior and Redeemer. finished with the prophet coming to Ahab and playing the old pretend to present a problem that causes a king to render a judgment then point out the one way that the king has violated that same thing. You know that old trick that Nathan perfected with You Are the Man taught in prophet school. But in the end Ahab left and we left the last of chapter 20. King of Israel went to his house vexed and sullen and came to Samaria and so at the end of this Dealing with this prophet Ahab is Depressed he's sullen and vexed and so now we come to the end chapter we need to be paying attention to what we have in the previous chapter, very similar content. That there is a problem that arises, Ahab deals with that problem in a particular way. A prophet comes and speaks to Ahab, then how does Ahab then respond to the prophet? Basically we are watching this relationship between Ahab the king, his actions and then how he responds to the prophet. And the same is in chapter 20. In chapter 21, in chapter 20 we saw this several times the prophet would come and talk to, had three prophets come different points to be able to speak. And it ended with that last prophet and the sons of the prophet and he came and warned him of what is going to happen. That because you did not kill Ben-Hadad his life shall be your life and your life shall be his life. And so as we turn to a new chapter we need to have that in the back of my mind. How is Ahab going to respond to the prophet? Before we get to that which we'll get to next week Lord willing. we need to be able to see the problem. What is the conflict that arises that then causes the prophet to be able to come to Ahab? Lord willing we will get to verse 16 so let's begin. And so chapter 21 begins with this introduction to a new person. In verse 1, and now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. So Naboth appears and Naboth, he appears and somewhat just vanishes in this chapter, one of those key players that is known and renowned and he's known for one thing, he's known for his vineyard. We don't know much about him. Naboth means fruitful. or to bear fruit. And Jezreel means that God sows or that God may give seed. And so it is very fitting for Naboth and his vineyard. He is known for being fruitful. He lives in Jezreel which God gives seed and flourishes. And obviously Naboth has a glorious vineyard. Jezreel is known for its fertile soil. And so quite a great spot to be able to grow vines and So now Ahab comes home after the visit from the prophet in chapter 20. He's vexed and sullen and he's sitting on his rocking chair on his front porch sipping his iced tea or whatever he's drinking. And he's depressed, he's moping around, but then he sees something out of the corner of his eye, and he wonders, well, maybe if I could just have that. He looks over at his neighbor, Naboth, and what would it be like to be able to have that land for my own? And that's exactly what he does. He goes to be able to visit Naboth, and this is what Ahab says to Naboth in verse two. And after this, Ahab said to Naboth, give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden. because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard for it. If it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money." So he looks at Naboth, the fruitful man, the one in the land that bears much fruit that God has given the seed, the fertile place, and he looks at this from his rocking chair and he says, I need a place for maters and taters, collard greens and beans. This is what I need. And interesting how he goes about this. In verse two, he approaches Naboth and he asks him. Seems like quite a reasonable offer. He doesn't come in and take it by force. He offers him a better vineyard. And even not only a better vineyard, but one that, if not that, just take the money. Take your money and you'd be able to have. Now this seems like a reasonable offer. But we need to be able to notice a couple of things about this. What is wrong with this? Well, the first thing we need to be able to understand is Deuteronomy chapter 17 the great passage about kings, the warning about what they are coming to do that they should not acquire for themselves many horses, or wives, or silver and gold. But the very strict instructions that are given in verses 18-20 says, and when he sits on the throne of his kingdom he shall write for himself a copy of this law approved by the Levitical priests. and it shall be with him, and he shall read it in all the days of his life. And he may learn to fear God, the Lord his God, by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, that he may not turn aside from the commandment, neither to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel. So he's to study the law, not only to be able to write it out, but he was to keep a copy of that law as his own. He was to read it and study it and then to be able to follow it. But specifically in verse 20, one of the reasons in doing them, he's not only to live them out, what is he to try and do, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers. reading the law was for him to be able to see that he is not higher than his brothers. He is one of them. He is an Israelite and therefore he shouldn't take advantage of this. This is a warning that Samuel gives to them in 1 Samuel chapter 8 warning about what a king is going to do. He is going to take your sons. He is going to take your daughters. He is going to take all your possessions. You think a king is going to give you victory and win you battles, but a king is really just going to take, and take, and take. And this is the great warning that happens in Deuteronomy chapter 17, that not only he was to follow the law, but he was to be able to see it carried out, that he was not to be able to see himself lifted higher than the law. But that leads to the second thing that is very important in this matter, and Naboth explains it in verse three. Naboth turns around to this, what we would appear like this reasonable offer, I'll buy you a better vineyard or give you more money, But Naboth's response, he comes and repeats the law. Naboth says, the Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. Now these are the only words that we have of Naboth in the whole entire Bible. We don't have anything else. Wouldn't it be good if one of our phrases that was kept in the books of history was such as Naboth. The only words that we have recorded are ones that honor God and uphold His law. But Naboth begins by saying, the Lord, Yahweh, forbids. Before we get to what He forbids, we need to be able to understand that this is a glorious statement. And here Yahweh, God's covenant name, is on Naboth's lips. This humble farmer, Actually, a vigneron is a fancy term for someone who grows grapes, but this humble farmer is, seeks, and the first words, Yahweh forbid it. Yahweh in this dark time of Israel, which is heading towards destruction. There's 7,000 people that have not bowed the knee to Baal. Naboth is one of those. We see the lips of strange people in God's covenant name. The widow of Zarephath says, as the Lord lives. Obadiah said the same thing as Elijah approached him. The people who bowed the knee to the Lord on Mount Carmel. The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. The prophets, it's always on their lips. But now Naboth. Naboth, the neighbor to the wicked king Ahab. He knows who God is. He knows His law and He seeks to be able to keep it. But what does Yahweh forbid? Leviticus chapter 25 towards the end it speaks about land, how land is to be dealt with in the land that God gives them. But Leviticus chapter 5 begins by saying in verse 23, the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land. If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest Redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold." And so the law specifically was that you're not to sell your property. Now there's, the Lord forbids this. This is what Naboth is explaining. The Lord forbids us selling property. Why does He forbid it? Because it's not theirs. It's God's. God has given them this land. They're not owners, they're stewards. It's God's land and God gives it to them and he divides it amongst them so that people can't take it from them. Now, there was a special clause that if you came on such hard times and you couldn't uphold or upkeep the land, then what you could do is you could sell the land to be able to survive. But what eventually would happen in the land of Jubilee is that eventually it would just be given back to them. But in the meantime, if you have a Redeemer, the Redeemer, a kinsman, so it stays in the same family, would be able to purchase that land for you. That's what we see in the story of Ruth. Boaz is that kinsman Redeemer. There's another person there who passes up the opportunity to be able to redeem that land, and so it goes to Boaz. But Naboth turns and he says, the Lord forbids it. Have you not read, did you not write it down when you became king? Leviticus chapter 25. That's what he says, that he should not give the inheritance of my father's. And again, Naboth sees himself as a steward of this land, holding an inheritance granted to him. by Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. But what we see here is Naboth, when Ahab, one of the strongest rulers in the world, stands before him, fear and trembling might be upon him in his mind, thinking about what's gonna happen, but yet he stands his ground. He says, I must do what the Lord God requires of me. Such a short passage and yet we see Naboth stand on God's law and his word and he seeks to be able to serve and honor God. But Ahab sees this as a problem. Now Ahab probably has never had anyone tell him no. Growing up in the house of Omri, he had many servants that probably came to his beck and call. If he wanted a particular chariot, that's what he got, that particular chariot. I doubt he in his whole life heard the very words no. And so Ahab leaves, he's vexed, he's sullen as he was after he heard the news of the prophet. Again, let's see that the level of this, the same level that he heard the word that his life is gonna be taken from him, the life of Ben-Hadad for your life, is the same reaction he has for not getting this vineyard. Because he can't have his dream vegetable garden that he read about in Fine Gardening. He can't do what he wants. So what does he do? In verse 4, And Ahab went into his house vexed and sullen, because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him. For he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. He lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would not eat food. This king, mighty king, who has seen God's glorious compassion in the recent chapter that we just read, and he goes home because he can't have this vineyard. Now, we have people in our house that act like this sometimes. They're small. They're children. If my wife and I started to act like this, it'd be, I guess, humorous or very depressing. We don't get what we want, so we go home and sulk and not eat. But this is exactly what Ahab does. He doesn't get what his hearts desire, and there's many great sins that we'll look at in this. Now, this is the second time that we see in this passage, the words of Naboth repeated. And I think it's important when we trace this through. Now, I don't want to give a lot of weight to this, but I think it is very important. When we hear about the second time, when Ahab is whining about this, Notice what he leaves out. The first time, this is what the exact words of Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. Who forbids it? The Lord forbids it. Now, the second time, Ahab, as he's sulking on his bed, how does he remember it? Naboth says, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. The most important part of the first thing was God forbidding it, the law. And that's not on Ahab's mind. Now again, I don't think we should give drastic weight to this where we would say that this is, there's many sins in this, but I think it's important for us to see this progression. He drops that law, the Lord forbidding it. It's Naboth is the problem. So what happens is Ahab is sulking in his bedroom and Jezebel approaches him and asks why he's moping around like a toddler. Jezebel comes in and says in verse 5, Jezebel his wife came and said to him, why is your spirit so vexed that you eat no food? He said to her, because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, give me your vineyard for money or else if it pleases you I will give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard. And so, notice again, the third time we hear about it. The first time, the Lord forbids it. The second time, Naboth won't give me the inheritance of this. But now let's see how he repeats it to his wife. He says, I will not give you my vineyard. Now again, this might be the cliff notes that as the author is writing this, we see this, but I think that we're changing the exact argument that Naboth made at the first was that it's God's land and God forbids it. But notice the last argument that Ahab makes to Jezebel is that he thinks Naboth's argument, it's my vineyard. You can't have what is mine. Well, that's not Naboth's argument at all. Naboth never said that it's mine. He actually said that it's his father's inheritance and it's the Lord God's. Now we need to understand that Jezebel grew up in a royal household too. That she probably never got told no. She probably saw her father never say no or never get told no. That she grew up with the daughter of Bethbaal, king of the Sidonians. And so she probably saw how he handled the situations. Now Jezebel is a very productive person. She explains this is how a king handles it. If he doesn't get what he wants, then go get it. She's a doer. You got to give Jezebel some credit and some points, right? She's really ready to take anything into her own hands, mainly through blood. That's her response, right? Kill the prophets, try and kill Elijah. Now she seeks to be able to do the same. Let's kill Naboth. Dale Ruff Davis sums it up in the only way that I think Dale Ruff Davis could. But he said, this is his summary of what Jezebel says, Ahab, you are a king. Are you a king or are you a wimp? No local yokel great picker is going to stand in the way of this regime. Your problem, Ahab, is that you still think a king is subject to the law. You must get it through your head that what the king wants is the law. That here, Jezebel says, you are king, you can do whatever you want. Well, that's not what Deuteronomy 17 says. Deuteronomy says you must write it down, you must do it, but also as you're writing out and doing it, that your heart may not think you're greater than your brother. So Jezebel takes it into her own hands. Verse 8 to 10, she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed it with his seal and sent the letters to the elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city. And she wrote in the letters, proclaim a fast and set Naboth at head of the people and set two worthless men opposite him and let them bring a charge against him saying, you have cursed God and the king. then take him out and stone him to death. This is Jezebel's solution. She sends a Facebook invite out saying, well, let's have a party. Let's honor Naboth. Very cunning plan. Let's have two witnesses stand beside him, and then they'll falsely accuse him, and then basically he'll be put to death. This is what Delroth Davis actually calls religious injustice. Notice how she goes about doing it, not merely the heinousness of the putting someone to death, but the facade that is looked at from the outside of this religious nature. The first thing there to do is proclaim a fast. You just think about what this looks like on the outside, how noble Ahab must be, how religious Ahab must be, how godly. Here he is honoring or even the two witnesses. Again, to be able to uphold the law. Deuteronomy 19 was very specific. A single witness shall not suffice against a person of any crime or of any wrongdoing in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. They bring out their law book, Deuteronomy 19, two witnesses, good, check. Not only that they carry out the law, what is he charged with? What's the plan to be able to say, curse God and the king? Take him out and stone him. Now, interestingly, in Leviticus chapter 25 is where we find the laws about the land. But what laws do they turn to when they want to be able to frame Naboth? They turn to Leviticus chapter 24. Just the chapter before, this is what they would quote. Bring out of the camp the one who cursed. Let all him hurt him. Lay their hands on his head and let the congregation stone him. and speak to the people of Israel, saying, whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him, the sojourner as well as the native. When he blasphemes the name shall be put to death." Not only they have this facade of this fast, but also the crime and punishment is dishonoring God's name. And what we see is this is exactly what happens. That Facebook invite pops up, everyone attends, the worstest fellows carry out their deed. Maybe they're promised what Nabath was, the vineyard that was better, the money. 1 Kings chapter 21, verses 11 to 14. And the men of his city, the elders and the leaders who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them, as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them. They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. And the two worthless men came and sat opposite him. And the worthless men brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth cursed God and the king. And they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned. He is dead." So they carry this out. Not only does Jezebel place this plan in place, there's people who carry it out. They're the ones who actually murder him as well. It's important to be able to see here that they're complicit. They're the ones who carried it out. They have no argument. But who honored God and His name? It was Naboth. Who honored God's law? It's Naboth. But who was put to death because of God's law being misused? Naboth. Injustice. injustice with this great religious appearance of not only justice but also just even through the holding the fast. Now the story ends in a very strange way. Now we know there's the other part of the chapter but it's interesting for us to be able to think about. Not only Naboth is killed, we actually find out in 2nd Kings that Naboth and his sons are killed. great, horrendous injustice that is done. In verses 15 and 16 we see how the first part of this story ends. As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive but dead. So you notice quite frequently through there the phrases here, Naboth is dead. And as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth and just like to take possession of it. Here we see these kings and queens in high positions of power, stepping on those who are their subjects, taking something that is not theirs. Now before we get to the more theological outlook, I think it's just quite important for us to be able to see the moral heinousness of this crime. What grievous violations of the moral law, not even the intricate details of what we see in Leviticus. But also just all the commandments they're broken as I've been studying for our time in the Ten Commandments in our Exodus sermon series. You'd be surprised how much this chapter comes up. But at least on the surface level I can at least count five commandments which he clearly violates in this passage. Five of the ten. Now I think you could even take it further. But I think at least five we see. You shall not covet, Exodus 20, 17. How did this all begin? This all began with Ahab seeing something that was not his, that was not granted to him by God, and seeking and desiring it. He sought what was someone else's, not merely just externally, we'll get to that, but internally. It starts with the heart. The covetedness is one of the sins, as we'll get there in the last commandment, but covetedness is one of the sins that is heightened throughout the New Testament as those who will not inherit the kingdom of God. And we don't often think about it like that, right? We don't put that in the heinous category, but all of this starts with this simple heart reaction that all of it begins with this root sin of covetedness. The second, you shall not murder. Here you see Jezebel orchestrate Naboth's murdering, but you have three people that have committed murder in this passage. You have the first two, the worthless fellows who falsely accused him, then putting him to death. Actually, the crime in the law is if you falsely testify and you found out you're falsely testifying, then you should be punished in the way, the same level of that of which the outcome of the trial if the person had been accused and judged guilty. And so they committed murder. They physically committed the act of murder. You have then Jezebel, who gave the orders to be able to carry this out. So she's complicit in the murder. You see this in 2 Samuel when it's David who wrote the letter to Joab to be able to kill him, but David is the one who is the murderer who kills Uriah the Hittite. He didn't lay a hand on him, but he caused it to happen, and so too with Ahab. Ahab should have. stopped before coveting, but if not then, to be able to stop his wife from using his letter to be able to send out this, to be able to orchestrate this. The third is that you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Here Jezebel arranged for these false witnesses to be able to accuse Naboth for cursing God and the king, which led to this wrongful conviction. the fourth you shall not steal. Quite clearly what we see is these Ahab and Jezebel then take possession of the vineyard. And this seems to be one of the key things that we see throughout this passage. You could say with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite, the key aspect that is focused on in all the prophecies and the judgments rendered is not so much that he slept with Bathsheba, although that's horrid adultery and sinful. One of the things that comes up is that he murdered Uriah the Hittite. And so here, one of the key things is not only that he murders Naboth, but also that he takes possession of it. This is the sin that is heightened. That's where it ends in verse 16, that he takes possession of it. But the final thing is that you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. This is often what we wouldn't think about in Naboth's vineyard, but here. How does this false accusation come? It's not merely that they tell him that he dishonored God's name. Now, out of this passage, who is the only one that honored God's name? It's Naboth, who said, the Lord, Yahweh, forbids it. Who represented God as perfect in His law, and yet it's said that Naboth cursed God. These false witnesses were set up testifying that here he took the name of the Lord God in vain. Now I think you could go deeper, I mean even just to be able to unpack the principles here that we see here. What is abhorrent is this king overreaching his power, taking that which does not belong to him. Now you could go many different ways, the implications of that, of government and overreaching and things like that, taking what is not theirs. You see the principle of the right of personal property here, Naboth has a claim to it, that it's his. We'll unpack some of this as we go through some of the Ten Commandments, but let's look at two theological implications then of this. First is that we see this complete injustice in this passage. It ends and it appears like everything is fine. Even if we read to the end of the chapter, the appearance from all of what has seen, Naboth's name is never vindicated. It's never claimed that he died a false death. There's no reparations made to Naboth and his family. I mean, his family is killed, but there's no, it doesn't seem like justice is seen. even if you go through this. I mean, you can look through all of Bible to be able to see all of these injustices that happen to God's faithful people. It happens to those in Exodus in chapter, in the beginning chapters where they cry out to God in the end of chapter three and God sees them, he hears them and he sends them Moses. But I think the clearest example is when you see Jesus' trial. Now if you and I were to be able to go stand before a judge or a jury and they were to be able to go through specific violations of the law, I'm sure they could find something in some way where we have violated the law in some way. Even if it wasn't deliberate, it was unintentional, I'm sure there would be times. But the only person that would have been able to stand before any judge or jury and say he's completely innocent is Jesus. But I think it's interesting then to be able to see the overlaps between what's happening here in 1 Kings chapter 21 and then what happens to Jesus. You saw Ahab and Jezreel try and claim that they're religious. Here they are proclaiming them fast. Well, what do the Pharisees do? John we're told that here they go to the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters early in the morning and they don't want to walk into the governor's house because they don't want to become undefiled for the Passover. This religious appearance of seeking to be righteous as they go to murder an innocent man. Not only that, the two witnesses On paper, it looks like Jesus was accused. You need two witnesses, two or three witnesses, we've got two or three witnesses. You read about in Mark chapter 14, here they find all these false witnesses, none of their testimonies agree, but they find their false witnesses. In Matthew chapter 26, the end, verse 59 and 60, now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death, but they found none. Though many false witnesses came forward, at last two came forward." So here, they went out of their way to be able to find false witnesses to be able to put Jesus to death. What was the accusation that they made of Naboth? Well, they cursed God and King. They're exactly the same claims that the Pharisees made of Jesus. The first reason that they tried to be able to do in their own courts was that they sought to be able to put him to death because of blasphemy. Again in Matthew chapter 26, the high priest said to him, I drew you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so, but I tell you from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power, coming on the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You now have heard his blasphemy. Well, that's what they did when they were together in the high priest, but what did they do when they were before Pilate? In John chapter 19, and on Pilate they sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself king opposes Caesar. Not only they sought to be able to kill him because of blasphemy, but also they sought to be able to dishonor and commit treason. What did they do? They took him out. He's taken out of the city. The author of Hebrews points this out, that he goes outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Now they sought to be able to stone him. They sought to be able to do this, but they couldn't. John actually explains that this happened, that the scripture might be fulfilled, that none of his bones were broken. And again, the scripture says, they will look on him whom they have pierced. but they still seem to be able to put him to death through this painful excruciation of crucifixion. And so we see this injustice done to Christ. We see all of these things that happened to Naboth and then happened to Christ. But we'll end with this theological point. When we think about all that has happened to Naboth, all that's happened to Jesus, we probably don't find much comfort in this verse in John chapter 15. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. Why does the world hate Christians? Because they live and act like Christ. And so we don't get much comfort when we think about how they treated Jesus. Now we do have comfort, as we will see next week, the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying that here, at the end of chapter, verse 16, it seems like everyone has, Naboth has lost. Injustice prevails. What we need to know is here God sees and God acts. God renders judgment. I mean, you can go in many different places to be able to see this injustice, Psalm 37, Jeremiah 12. You can see many of these places where we see injustice before us in our world. What comfort do we have? I'll finish with Psalm 92. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High. It's a strange way to be able to begin this psalm when we think about what is coming. But it's good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work. At the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord. Your thoughts are very deep. The stupid man cannot know. The fool cannot understand this. That though the wicked sprout like grass and evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever. But you, O Lord, are on high forever. That here the psalmist can praise God for all that he has done. That he's good, he's praiseworthy, his steadfast love that he sees in the morning, his faithfulness that he sees at night. For all the works that he has done, his thoughts that are very deep, be it what does he see in the world around him. Stupid man. You ever feel like you see that? Maybe in the mirror. The fool cannot understand it, what's happening. The wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish. It's that time again when you mow the lawn, you get inside, you change your clothes, you look out, and you need to mow your lawn again. It just grows so fast. This is what we see it looks like in the world. Wickedness is prevailing, growing. The interesting thing is when you read people from different eras, everybody says the same thing. We live in the worst time in history. Everyone looks at the world and thinks, how can we get so depraved? And it's almost like every generation thinks, well, you haven't seen anything yet. Evildoers flourish. But how does he end? They're doomed to destruction forever. What awaits Naboth is completely different to what awaits Ahab. But throughout all of this, the Lord is on high forever. The same place that he started in the start of the psalm, I give thanks to the Lord to sing praises to your name, O most high. He ends, Lord, but you, O Lord, are on high forever. Not only is God the most high today, but he will be for all eternity. And so when we see this injustice in the world, We need to be reminded that God sees, as we'll see next week, but he also is seated on high, that there will be an end for those who are doing great wicked deeds that will wither like grass and will not flourish forever. 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.