We shall now turn to the chapter that we read together, 1 Kings chapter 21, and our text for this morning is verse 20. 1 Kings 21, and at verse 20, And Dahab 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. Be sure your sins will find you out. God is watching us all the time as eye is upon us. He sees wickedness and he punishes it. All sin is punished. It's important for us to remember that. There's a judgment day ahead. Sometimes powerful people in this world can escape punishment for their wickedness, but eventually it catches up with them. The wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is hell. But very often, the wickedness of the wicked brings judgment upon them, even in this life. How much you and I need a savior. and how great it is that we have the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, a mighty Savior, able to save even unto the uttermost those who come unto God by him. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. You notice Paul there doesn't say, of whom I was chief. He was the chief of sinners, but he says of whom I am chief. And how could Paul the saint say, I am chief? Because he knew his own heart and he knew more about himself than he knew about anyone else. And every true Christian will say, I am the chief of sinners. But then we have Christ, the chief of saviours. So whatever you've done, whatever belongs to your past or even to your present, rejoice in this. There's a saviour mighty to save. The Lord Jesus Christ is able to wash away all your sins. There's hope. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, whosoever, and that includes you, whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Well, here, first of all, we see today covetous King Ahab. The 10th commandment says, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, not his manservant, not his maidservant, not his ox, not his ass, not anything that is thy neighbor's. It's the only commandment that addresses purely the thoughts. the thoughts of the heart. Every other command addresses action and speech as well as thoughts. And we might think in some ways, well, the 10th commandment is the least commandment. It was one commandment that didn't bother the Pharisees in the time of Jesus. They were very pernickety about keeping the Sabbath day, but they were very covetous. But you see here from this chapter that covetousness is serious because covetousness leads to all kinds of sin and even crime. It underlies so many other sins. So here's this king, King Ahab, and next, To the palace gardens, he sees a vineyard, a vineyard belonging to this man, Naboth. And he covets that vineyard. He desires it. He wants it. He had great wealth. He had lots of vineyards and gardens and palaces, but he wants more. He wants more. and how characteristic that is of our own society today. People love so much, but they want more. And everybody's grumbling about how little they've got. We were never better off, and yet everybody's talking about their poverty, their poverty. And you think back 100 years to this island, when there was real poverty, when people didn't have enough to eat sometimes, when they were in debt to the miller because they couldn't afford to buy a meal in great poverty. But today, you see those people who are complaining about their poverty and they look fat and they've had their hairdos and they've got their mobile phones and all the rest of it. Covetousness, greed. Here's Yehav then, and he's covetous. Now it's all very well us talking about the covetousness of others, but what about your covetousness? Are you covetous? Are you greedy? Are you desiring things other people have? The Bible says, godliness with contentment is great gain. Yes, indeed. Godliness with contentment is great gains. Wonderful to be content. I have plenty. I have an abundance. Thanks, Lord, for all that I have. How good the Lord has been to me. Goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life. What a wonderful testimony. I hope that's the testimony of every one of us here. God's been so good to me, and I've got so much, far, far, far more than I deserve. But here's Ehab. He's not content. He's greedy, he's desiring more, and he wants the vineyard. of Naboth. So covetous Ahab is what we see here first. And then secondly, we see faithful Naboth. The land was very important to the Israelites. It was part of God's covenant. God had promised it to Abraham. To thee and to thy seed will I give this land. And you remember when the spies went through the land and they said, yes, it's an exceeding good land, but the enemy is so numerous. And they've got great walled cities and iron chariots. And we saw giants in the land. And we were in their sight as grasshoppers. And they discouraged the people so that they spent the night weeping and then grumbling against Moses. But Caleb followed the Lord holy. He said, the Lord delights in us. The people of the land will be bred to us. Let's go ahead. Let's go forward. Let's go and take possession of this land, which Lordness covenant is given to us, given to Abraham and to his seed forever. Well, here's this man Neboth and he's got a vineyard. And Ahab would give him loads of money for his vineyard, but he's not interested in loads of money. And Ahab would give him a far, far better vineyard, but he's not interested in a far, far better vineyard because this is the vineyard that the Lord has given him. And he's delighted with what the Lord has given him. He's godly and contained. And he sees this vineyard as his father's inheritance. and he wants to maintain his father's inheritance. Remember with the Israelites, if they became poor and had to sell their land, after 50 years, the Jubilee came and they would get their land back. The land remained with the family forever. That's the way it was meant to be. the land, as it were, a first fruit, an earnest of heaven, the first square of the turf of heaven that was theirs. And here's this man nae but then, and he's not looking for more. He's content with what he has. He's a godly man, and he's wanting to maintain what the Lord has given him and given to his fathers before him. Remember even the case of a man who got married and died without children. His brother was supposed to marry that man and to raise up children so that the man's name would be part of the inheritance, his name, as it were, on the land. That was important. And here we have then, Naboth, seeking first the kingdom of God. That's what's so important. Does it characterize you? Do spiritual things mean more to you than anything else? Are you seeking first the kingdom of God or seeking first this world and wealth and prosperity and the things of this earth? What means most to you? Is it your soul, your relationship to God? Is it your place in heaven that means more to you than anything else and for which you would sacrifice everything? even your life. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Faithful neighbour. This relationship to God meant more to him than anything else. The next thing we notice here is sulky Ahab. Sulky Ahab. Obviously he was used to getting what he wants. He's like a spoiled child. And when you cross the spoiled child, away he goes to his bedroom and throws himself on the bed and he starts crying. And he won't play. Spoiled child, are you a bit like a spoiled child too? Do you sometimes, if things go against you, if somebody crosses your path You won't talk to them. You sulk. You go away in a huff. You resign. You're going to have nothing to do with these people. You're full of anger and resentment towards them. Sulkiness. Childish, isn't it? We look at Ahab here and we think, what a fool he was. How childish. How spoilt he was. But are you like a spoilt child sometimes? falling out with people, won't talk to them, going off in the huff, maintaining your resentment and your anger, sulkiness. So there's Yehab lying on his bed, face to the wall, won't eat any food, won't talk to anybody because he hasn't been allowed to get his own will. The next thing we notice is lawless Jezebel. Jezebel thinks that the king is above the law. Are you the king of Israel? Are you the governor of this land? And you allow Naboth to cross you? Being the king, you can do anything you like. Well, that was Jezebel's view of kingship. She was the daughter of Ephbaal, the priest king of Sidon. And she had this pagan view of the king. Our king today is Charles III. He wanted to call himself Charles III. So that reminds us that there were two other kings before him, Charles II and Charles I. And they believed in what is called the divine right of kings. And they thought the king could do anything he liked, that he was above the law and he was above the church, and he could rule the church. But you remember Samuel Rutherford, he wrote a book, Lex Rex, it's called. Lex, law, Rex, king. The law is king. The law is above the king. That's the way it should be. That's the way it was to be in Israel. That's the way it should be in our country too. The law is supreme and the king must obey the law. But with Jezebel, the king was supreme and could do what he liked. But there's only one king that can do what he likes. that's God. And every other king is under God, whether he likes it or not, whether he's a pagan or not, every other king is under God and will have to give account for how they rule. So here's Jezebel, the daughter of a pagan king, Israel's king was duty-bound to obey the law, but she didn't see it that way. So she says, she says to Ahab, eat and drink, I'll get the vineyard for you. So she writes letters in Ahab's name, and she sends these letters to the elders to the nobles of Jezreel in Ahab's name, in the king's name, telling them to proclaim a fast, set Naboth on high among the people, bring him before the judgment seat, get two sons of Belial, two children of the devil, People of no moral value to lie against Naboth. Tell lies to say that he had blasphemed the king, blasphemed God, that he had committed treason and then stoned him to death. Lawless Jezebel. Not subject to the law of God. So, next we see gross wickedness. The elders, the nobles, they receive these letters. What should they do? Should they obey the king? Should they obey Jezebel? Of course they shouldn't. You remember in the Second World War, the Nazis and concentration camps, these officers who were involved in great cruelty, they tried to make an excuse that they had received commands from above, and they were just obeying commands, but it's not like that. Because at the end of the day, you are responsible for what you do. You can't blame your superiors. You can't hide behind them. We are to obey God rather than men. And if God's law says something, we're to do it, whatever man says. We are never to obey someone set over us against God. Children are to obey their parents, but never to obey their parents if their parents tell them to do something which is wrong. We are always to obey God first. But here the nobles, the elders of Jezreel, do exactly what Jezebel says. They proclaim a fast, they arrest Naboth as it were, they judge him. It's horrible to think that his very neighbours would turn on this godly man Naboth and do this to him. They tell lies about him and proclaim him. They condemn him as guilty and then take him out and stoning. They murdered him. With false witnesses, with corruption, they murdered him. How wicked. What gross wickedness. Next we notice Ahab's complicity. Jezebel tells Ahab what she's done. Surely Eab will be revoked at this. Surely he'll be so angry about it, and he'll demand justice. But no, he complies. It's a bit like receiving stolen goods. To receive stolen goods is to be part of the crime. And here this vineyard has been stolen from Naboth. And yet Ahab goes down to possess it, to take it over. But as he goes down to possess the vineyard, who does he see coming along but Elijah? Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Interesting that he puts it like that. Shows that he had a conscience. He knew he was guilty. He sees the person whom he would least like to see in all the world, the prophet of the Lord. He knows that he's been found out. Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Yes, of course, God finds us. God finds you and me, whatever we do, wherever we are, God is seeing, God is watching. God is judging and assessing. We never escape his eye. The darkness is as the light before him. And so next we see God's judgment. Elijah the prophet is given words to speak to Ahab. Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Verse 20 says Ahab to Elijah. And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. What a terrible thing to sell yourself to work evil. sell yourself to the devil. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, thy children, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel. And I will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Jeroboam, king, King who had introduced the golden calves, Jeroboam, the son of Neba, who caused Israel to sin, his family were cut off. And Beasha, the son of Ahijah, another royal line, he too was cut off. For the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. God's judgment upon him. And God says, where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick your blood. And your children will be cut off and the dogs will eat them. And Jezebel, as for her, she will be eaten by dogs. by the wall of Jezreel. Judgment, a judgment that would be seen even in this life. So much judgment is not seen in this life. You have to wait for the next world. But the judgment of Ahab was clearly seen. These very prophecies were literally fulfilled. And next we notice then Ahab's wickedness in verse 25, how it is stated there, that there was none like Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. You know, it's so important that we have a godly husband and a godly wife. So important that our first priority in choosing a partner should not be looks or even personality. Attractiveness. Our first concern should be godliness. Somebody who will help us to serve the Lord, because that's what's most important. Seeking first the kingdom of God. to seek a godly husband and a godly wife. King Ahab, he chose a very, very wicked woman, a pagan woman, which he should never have chosen anyway, but even amongst the pagans, one of the very worst, a woman who stirred him up to evil. What a blessing it is to have a godly wife, a godly husband, who will stir us up to do that which is good. Wives are to submit to their husbands, but only to their husbands as their husbands submit to God. You notice in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 19 now it says submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands in the Lord. Husbands love your wives. So yes, first and foremost, submission to God. And husbands are to provide leadership, leadership not for their own selfish interests, but leadership for God's glory in serving God. And wives are to submit to their husbands as their husbands lead them in serving the Lord. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Husbands are to love their wives so much as to die for them, just like Christ died for the church. But Ahab here, he married this woman, Jezebel, who stirred him up to do evil. But then we notice next Ahab being humbled. It's fascinating. We see him here, rending his clothes, verse 27, putting sackcloth upon his flesh, fasting, and lying in sackcloth and going softly. He humbled himself before the Lord. Shows that he had a conscience. No word about Jezebel humbling herself, but Ahab had that background, that understanding, that knowledge, and that conscience. He humbled himself. He repented. And it wasn't in vain. It was a partial repentance. If he had totally repented, he would have been converted. But even the repentance that he was involved in was so significant, and the Lord notices it. We're told, the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, verse 29, "'Seest thou how Ehab humbleth himself before me? "'Because he humbleth himself before me, "'I will not bring the evil in his days, "'but in his son's days will I bring the evil "'upon his house.'" Have you sinned? Have you done something horrible, terrible? Have you backslidden? Repent. The Lord notices. He's watching. He's ready to be gracious. He was even showing a measure of mercy to wicked King Ahab. And the evil did not come in his day. But the evil did come. And you remember how Ahab went out to battle, although the prophet Micaiah warned him against it, told him that he would die in the battle. But he disguised himself, the folly of the human heart. He thought if he didn't look like the king, maybe he wouldn't be killed. He disguised himself as an ordinary soldier. And the king of Syria told his charioteers to fight against, neither great nor small, but only against the king. They couldn't find the king, but one, taking his bow and an arrow, shoots it at random. There's no such thing as random with God. The arrow went like a guided missile between the joints and his armor pierced to his heart. And Ahab died. And a man washed Ahab's chariot by the pool of Samaria. And just as God had said, the dogs came along and licked up his blood. And Jezebel, you remember how Jehu came along. And Jezebel was thrown out of a window. And the horses trampled her underfoot. And when they went out to bury her, they found only the palms of her hands and her skull. The dogs had eaten her, just as God said. And what about Ahab's children? Again, you remember how the people of Samaria, at Jehu's instruction, killed, cut off the heads of his 80 sons and placed them in two piles By the gates of Samaria the dogs devoured his children. How terrible a punishment for the crime of stealing a vineyard and murdering the owner. But that's no punishment at all in comparison to the punishment that Ahab and Jezebel are now suffering for the last 3,000 years in hell, weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth. And Naboth, godly Naboth, where has he been? He was stoned to death, but he got a quick journey to heaven, and there he is in heaven. rejoicing in the Lord, in the garden, in the vineyard of heaven, enjoying his inheritance as a child of God. There's such a difference, you see, between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who serve him not. The judgment day ahead of us. And how will it be with you? Will it be, come ye blessed, or depart ye cursed? Everything really hinges on one thing. What place does Christ have in your heart? Do you love him and trust in him? Will you receive him and have him? or do you just go merrily along your own way? Seek ye the Lord while ye may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let us pray. O Lord, O God, we thank Thee for every passage of the Scriptures and all the riches that are to be found in Thy Word. We thank Thee that Thou hast set forth before us the truth, and we pray that that truth of God would take hold of us. Keep us, Lord, from covetousness. Keep us from being lovers of the world or lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God. Grant unto us, to each one of us, repentance, full repentance, repentance unto life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus' sake, amen.