I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of first Kings Once again this afternoon first Kings and let's go to chapter 21 Next to last chapter first Kings our focus this afternoon begins in verse 17 but for context let's begin in the first verse and First Kings chapter 21. And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spoke unto Naboth saying, give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it. Or if it seemed good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him and said unto him, why is thy spirit so sad that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, give me thy vineyard for money, or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise and eat bread, and let thy heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters saying, proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among the people and set two men sons of Belial before him to bear witness against him saying, thou didst blaspheme God and the king and then carry him out and stone him that he may die. And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had said unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him. And the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel saying, Naboth is stoned and is dead. And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said unto Ahab, arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money. For Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. Verse 17, and the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he has gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him saying, thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed and also take possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 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. 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 I will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. 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. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things, as did the Amorites, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. And it came to pass when Ahab heard those words that he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, seest thou how Ahab 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. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. Let's pray once more. Lord, we give you thanks for the reading of your word. We thank you for this portion that we will consider by your grace this afternoon. May we be attentive hearers of your word. May we understand it as you intend for us. And may we live our lives informed and in light of it. And we thank you for this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. The last time we considered the first 16 verses of this chapter in which there's the false accusation and the murder of Naboth, the Jezreelite, he had this vineyard that is hard by Jezreel, hard by the palace even of Ahab, king of Samaria. And Ahab wants it and he asks to have it and Naboth says, no. And so then we saw that Ahab made himself sick over it. that he couldn't have this and he remains in that condition until Jezebel bails him out and gets him his vineyard. And we noted how difficult the first 16 verses of this chapter are to read. It's a difficult story. There's great injustice here. There's the false accusation of blaspheming, which itself involved blaspheming. To tell someone falsely that he's blasphemed Yahweh is taking God's name in vain. And we saw also that not only did Naboth die, but his sons died as well. We see that from second Kings. And so there's the entire destruction of Naboth's family. There's no inheritance left for his vineyard. And we looked at a number of different aspects of this, but by way of review, one thing I want to underscore again is the question of how do we square this with the promises in scripture of God taking care of his people? How does he redeem his people from the evil that we read about throughout the Psalter? And we answered this by saying that the only way that we can understand this is in light of the incarnation of Christ. Those Psalms that speak of preserving God's people are speaking of Christ, who died himself as the innocent lamb of God. And so if the scripture cannot be broken, And if they were speaking and testifying concerning the lamb of God, then it holds true for his people to those who follow him. When, when the Psalms, for instance, in Psalm 34 says that none of those who take refuge in him will be ashamed. We have to see this in the bigger picture. Jesus had the bigger picture in mind when he says in Matthew chapter 10, verse 39, that he that find it, his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. Well, Naboth lost his life, didn't he? For Christ's sake. But he found it. And so we can truly say that he took refuge in God and was not ashamed. As the Psalms promise. The author of Hebrews has the same big picture in mind when he says in chapter 10, he says, ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Naboth's vineyard wouldn't have endured anyway. He has a, a better substance that endures in heaven. And that same book of Hebrews, the next chapter, he says, after going through all of that, that hall of fame, as it were of all of the heroes of the faith, the great earthly victories that they achieved through faith. And then he says, but there were these others who were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. So when the psalmist says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of the mall. This is not an empty promise. And it was not abrogated in the case of Naboth. This, this promise holds true for every believer. It held true for Naboth. We could say that by faith, Naboth did not accept deliverance that he might obtain a better resurrection by faith. Naboth was delivered out of his affliction. Yes, indeed. We know that immediately upon his death, he was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. And today in paradise, he awaits the return of Christ as we do. And so Naboth was the true conqueror in this story. The real loser here was Ahab. Ahab thought he won, but he lost. We're gonna see today in these verses before us, exactly how that unfolds. We know that last time that when we see these kinds of injustices in our lives, As we see these injustices in the nation and all the things that go on in our day, that this puts our faith in God's ability to govern his universe to the test. In other words, do we, do we really believe that the just judge of the earth will do right? I think Nabos murder here is written for us to wrestle with these things, to search our hearts. In our age in which there's wickedness and injustice everywhere we look, do we believe in this absolute sovereignty and goodness of God? Naboth did. And lastly, we saw that Naboth was a type of Christ. He submitted to the Father's will without complaining. He was falsely accused. He was taken outside the camp, outside Jerusalem, as it were, outside the city. of Jezreel, and he died a painful and shameful death. Naboth is pointing us to Christ. It's an Old Testament shadow and type. Well, we come now to verse 17. Let's read verses 17 and 18. The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he has gone down to possess it. Well, this is the first time we've seen Elijah since chapter 19. Last time we saw him, he had cast his mantle on Elisha and Elisha had followed him, had taken up his yoke to learn from him as a true prophet of God. And some time has passed since then in Israel. Since then, there've been two battles in chapter 20 that span some duration of time. We noted that during this time that Elijah was strengthening the schools of the prophets in Bethel and Jericho. I think chapter two of second Kings bears this out. But now we have here in verse 17, after some respite from dealing with Ahab, you have God sending Elijah back to Ahab. And the idea here in verse 18 is that while Ahab is in this very act of taking possession of this vineyard, that Elijah is supposed to go out there and confront him. It's like he's catching him red-handed here. Ahab's going out to that vineyard is the proof that all of that other stuff that happened, here's what this was all leading to. This is all about Ahab getting his vineyard, isn't it? In other words, the proof of Ahab's guilt is in the fact that he's in this vineyard. This makes all of the intentions abundantly clear. And this is the moment that Elijah is to confront him. I want us to turn again to 2 Kings chapter 9 to look at something here. 2 Kings chapter 9, this is when Jehu is killing the son of Ahab, not his firstborn. We'll see what happens to him and God's kindness in the future. But starting in verse 24, Jehu drew a bow with his full strength and smote Jehoram between his arms. And the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, take up and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him. Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his son, saith the Lord. And I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground according to the word of the Lord. We noted last time that if this section here is referring to the same event that we see transpiring in the second half of chapter 21 of 1 Kings, then it's likely the day after the killing of Naboth that Ahab gets around to going to this vineyard. Maybe he wants the blood of Naboth to not be warm when he goes to this vineyard. wants to create a little bit of separation, so it's not quite so obvious what's going on. Well, be that as it may, you have Jehu here speaking to Bidkar, his captain, in 2 Kings 9, verse 25 here. And he's saying that, remember when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him. So what we're seeing here is that Jehu and his captain Bidkar are in the company of Ahab when they hear the prophecy that he's speaking of here. And again, I think the most natural reading is that it's the same encounter that we have here. And if that's so, then that tells us that Ahab's not going to Spiniard alone per se. There's a bit of a, There's a bit of a procession with him, perhaps. And he's got company with him. And so there's a listening audience to what Elijah is going to say. Certainly, whatever he's talking about here in chapter 9 of 2 Kings, there's a listening audience to the word of God here. It's not just a couple of people here. Well, notice what he is to tell, what Elijah is to tell Ahab. He says, God tells to Elijah, thou shalt speak unto him, that's Ahab saying in verse 19, thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed and also taken possession. Now there's a double charge here. Notice that you've killed and you've taken possession. Have you done these two things here? It's like he's saying, have you, have you added insult to injury here? You're really gonna go through with this? You've killed him and now you've come to take possession? Wasn't it enough that you killed Naboth? Must you rob him too? And notice what's happening here. Elijah is to charge Ahab with the murder of Naboth. Now let's not read over that. Ahab wasn't the one who threw the stones at Naboth. Ahab wasn't the one who accused Naboth of blaspheming. He wasn't even the one that sent the letters to frame Naboth. He hadn't been involved directly in any of this, had he? So why would he be the chief guilty party in this murder? Well, I'm going to say something that's very unpopular. The answer is because of the patriarchy. That's a word that we're hearing a lot more today, aren't we, by secular sources. It's become a very popular word, the patriarchy. There's this resurgence of it in our pagan society. And we live in a day in which everyone's trying to dismantle the patriarchy. It's a very common phrase in woke pagan society around us, even in woke pagan Christendom, so-called. But see, God instituted the patriarchy and it's because of that institution and God's ordered universe that Ahab is guilty for the murder of Naboth. And in case we needed any proof that God doesn't make for a very good feminist, notice that language that's used here in verse 19. Hast thou killed and also taken possession? Despite Jezebel's attempts to dismantle the patriarchy, to wear the pants in the marriage, Ahab's the one that God charges with murder. Elijah wasn't sent to Jezebel, Elijah's sent to Ahab. And Ahab's not just a victim of his feminist wife either. He's a victim of his own abandonment of his God-given role. Remember, he was pouting on his bed while Jezebel used his seal to seal those scrolls with his royal seal. Verse 19, second half. Now shalt speak unto him saying, thus saith the Lord in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. Well, without Ahab being given specifics of exactly how he's gonna die here, he's told very clearly here that he's gonna die a very violent death. When you hear that the dogs are gonna be licking your blood, that's the only detail you've got. Well, what you're not getting is a Christian burial. And this is how God judges the wicked, isn't it? The evil that they think to do to others falls on their own head. And this should be a sobering wake-up call to all of us who are thinking about doing evil, to anyone who's thinking about doing evil. You know, the greater the evil that you plan, the greater the evil that will come upon you. And so Ahab's been guilty of shedding innocent blood, His blood is going to be violently shed. And there's multiple parallels here that we're going to see in this judgment. But the first one is that, that the dogs lick the blood of Naboth. Well, the dogs are going to lick your blood and it's going to be in the same place outside the city of Jezreel. Verse 20. And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy? This is the first point of interaction that we have between them. Up to the end of verse 19, God is telling Elijah what he is to tell to Ahab. But here in verse 20 is the first recorded part of the conversation that we have. There's this abrupt encounter. It's like he's turning the corner of the vineyard and there's Elijah standing right there. And these words just spill out of his mouth. Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? You get the impression that Ahab had been trying to avoid Elijah. and that there's the very presence of God's people that causes ungodly men like Ahab to be very uncomfortable. And he certainly doesn't seem to be expecting to meet him here of all places. The last time they'd seen each other so far as we know was on Mount Carmel, that swift run back to Jezreel ahead of the rain that returned after that three and a half year drought. Well, what's Elijah's response? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and I will cut 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 Baasha, the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. Well, there's some wordplay going on here in the Hebrew. I think that it's evident enough in the English as well. There in verse 20, when he says, thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord, behold, I will bring evil upon thee. It's a different Hebrew form of the same underlying Hebrew word there. You sold yourself to work evil. Okay. Evil is going to come upon you. And then it says that all of his male descendants are going to be cut off. And notice what God uses here to exemplify that. He's going to make his house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah. Both of these cases here are examples in recent history of Israel, especially in the case of Baasha, of family lineages that are completely destroyed, completely cut off because of their flagrant idolatry and false worship. Now, perhaps we're familiar with this passage and we read this and we're used to it, but put yourself in Ahab's shoes hearing this for the first time. You're hearing for the first time that not only are you going to be cut off, but all of your descendants are going to be cut off, swept away. You could render this. It'd be a devastating verdict to King Ahab. And this instance of Baasha here, it was just 10 or 11 years before Ahab himself was coronated that King Zimri destroyed all of the house of Baasha. This is recent history. This is fresh on the mind. So we have in total three parallels here of the judgment that Elijah is going to proclaim on him compared to the judgment, to what he did to Naboth. The first one is that the dogs licked up Naboth's blood. So the dogs are going to lick up Ahab's blood. The second there is that wordplay that just as Ahab sold himself to do evil, so God would bring evil on Ahab. And then thirdly, just as Ahab cut off every son from Naboth, so God's gonna cut off every son from Ahab. And notice the totality here of how many of those descendants are gonna be cut off. The last half of verse 21, him that is shut up and left in Israel, In other words, even the weak and the incapacitated are going to feel it. God is not a respecter of persons. Everyone in Ahab's household was guilty and they would all be punished. Didn't matter if they were crippled, didn't matter if they were infirm, they were under God's judgment and they were going to die. Now, there's two principles that work themselves out here in this passage that I want us to take note of. There's the principle of federal headship, but there's also the principle of personal culpability. And we want to take note of this as we're working through this. I think there's a danger of us misunderstanding, in some sense, the passage if we don't see them happening both in tandem here. See, it's Ahab's sin that is the catalyst for the complete destruction of his family. That's the federal headship that we see in this passage. But as we read that, we might ask the question, well, are the children paying for the sins of the fathers? Wouldn't this be contrary to the ways of God? Does he punish the sins of the children upon the fathers or the sins of the fathers upon the children? We won't go into it at this time, but Ezekiel chapter 18 goes into very belaboring depth to say that that's not what God does. He doesn't punish the sins of the fathers on the children. But he does say this, for a son to be spared, what's the qualification? It says that in Ezekiel 18, 14, he seeth all his father's sins, which he hath done and considereth and doth not such like. And it goes on to say in that case, he shall surely live. And it's no violation of that principle when God tells Moses in Exodus 20, verse 15, that he's a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. He says the same thing in Exodus chapter 34. He visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, the grandchildren to the third and the fourth generation. Now what's going on there? That's the federal headship principle, but there's a personal culpability principle there as well. It's when the children fail to depart from the sins of their fathers, that they're judged as a group. So in other words, why does God mention that he will judge on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation? It's that God doesn't get softer on the same sin further down the lineage. You know, sometimes in our fallen carnal thinking, we might think that, as we were seeing in the confession this morning about Adam's fall. Sometimes we might be tempted to think, well, Adam failed it, so we're off the hook now. And we noticed this morning that no, Adam fell, but we're not off the hook from God's law just because he fell. In other words, God holds us accountable as having been guilty of the covenant of works. Every time we break that, we don't get to say, well, Adam did it and God softened on that because he failed and everything else is neutral after that, no. He holds each lineage, each generation of a lineage responsible. when they fail to hold God's law. Each generation is accountable. And so that's the case here. In other words, there's not one person in Ahab's household who's not themselves guilty. There's not one person in Ahab's household who's repented and departed from those evils. They're all guilty too. All of their hearts did not incline towards what was right, but rather towards what was evil. And so they're personally culpable. And so in that sense, Ahab's an accurate representative of them as their federal head. Well, at the end of verse 22, let's notice how God charges Ahab with making Israel to sin. Here's another part of that principle, the federal headship and personal culpability. You've provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. So look at that. Ahab is under God's judgment because he's made Israel sin. Now, when Israel sinned, are they personally culpable, each citizen, for their sin? Absolutely. But Ahab as the head, as king, he has a unique guilt in having led them into that evil. When a ruler leads his nation into iniquity, he's charged with making the nation to sin. And this charge here is not referring just to the whole Naboth incident, although that is included. Ahab's guilty for the false accusation. Ahab's guilty for the stoning to death and all the people that participated in that. The blood is on his hands, but it's more than that. It's about all of his idolatry, all of his entire idolatrous lifestyle that led Israel into deeper and deeper sin. And this Naboth incident is really just a snapshot of one of the things that went on in that context. So we have these two principles here. Federal headship, personal culpability. Verse 23 continues that principle. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord saying the dog shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. So Ahab's the primarily guilty one. He's the one that Elijah goes to and confronts in the vineyard. But Jezebel doesn't get off the hook. No, she doesn't get off the hook. Just like her husband, she too would die a violent death. The dogs would eat her. And notice that it's not just that the dogs are going to lick her blood, like the lick Ahab's blood. Dogs are going to eat her. And we're going to see how these prophecies come true exactly later. So Ahab was Jezebel's head, but she's personally culpable and she would be judged accordingly. Verse 24, the cutting off of Ahab's household isn't just going to be a clean orderly execution. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city, the dog shall eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat. Everyone's going to die a violent and sudden death. And if you died, depending on where you die, there's going to be some aspect of this violence. You die in the city, the dogs are going to eat you. You die in the field, the fowls of the air are going to eat you. They're going to eat your carcass, these unclean birds. None of them would receive a proper burial. So as we think about this principle here that we're seeing at play here of the responsibility on the part of leaders, but then the individual responsibility as well. There's one thing that we want to think about here. We don't want to abuse these doctrines. One of the reasons that Ahab's soul is in such torment right now is because of the patriarchy. It's because of the federal headship. That's why he's the chief party guilty in this. So in other words, in a world in which Ahab wasn't the leader, of the marriage and the leader of the country, his culpability would be less, wouldn't it? And so this is sobering for us. As one preacher says, the head is where the crown of thorns goes. The patriarchy is actually something that makes those at the head much more responsible. There's more accountability that takes place at that point. It's a very sobering reality. that we want to treat with seriousness and caution. Well, let's look at the parentheses as it were in verse 25. 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. And he did very abominably in following idols according to all things as did the Amorites whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. It's like here that the writer of 1 Kings is sort of taking a step back. He's taking a pause in the narrative and he's gonna provide his own commentary on Ahab's reign here. 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. In other words, Ahab is setting new record lows in the history of Israel. It even says in so many words that he was a one of a kind. There was no sin that was too black for him to commit. And it says there that his wife was his accomplice, whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up. She was the one that you could render that provoked and influenced much of his evil. And the worst outrage of all is in verse 26. He worshiped the same false gods as the Amorites did, who had been kicked out of the land before Israel. So this right here, this parentheses of these two verses provides the backdrop for what is going to come next in verse 27. And what comes next is should scare us as Christians. If we, if we profess the name of Christ, verse 27 should search our souls. It came to pass when they have heard those words. that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. So look at this great apparent change that comes over Ahab. You remember just a short time earlier, he turns that corner and he sees Elijah, and he says, have you found me? Oh, my enemy? Seems angry, dangerous, maybe. Now he's sad. This outward state of grief and sorrow. And that phrase lay in sackcloth there. It seems to indicate that he even slept in the sackcloth or this burlap. Spent the night in it. And he went softly, it says. You could render that he went about despondently or in deep mourning. In other words, Ahab's putting on all the external appearances of repentance here. But you see Ahab was as good at repenting as he was getting sick for Naboth's vineyard. He could put on this act. This isn't the first time we've seen Ahab act in a morose way to get his way. It happened earlier in the chapter. He laid him down upon his bed, verse 4, and turned away his face and would eat no bread. Ahab's a master of this. It's not true repenting. It's not lasting repentance, but you know, just as that sickness there in verse four earlier was bit of fake and real. Both this sorrow is a bit fake and real as well. It wasn't just an act. It was deeper than that. He has genuinely sorrowful over the judgment. It's been pronounced on his house. And yet this sorrow came short of the mark. His heart was still at enmity against God. How can we know that? Well, for one thing, the signs that we would expect, the fruits of genuine repentance are lacking. If Ahab had truly repented, we could have expected him to have given up Naboth's vineyard. He would have returned it to any survivors in the family if there were any, or perhaps next of kin. It certainly wasn't his to have. In other words, where there's no writings of wrongings, there's no true repentance. It's not enough to say, I'm sorry. We must make amends. Another sign. In the next chapter, we're going to see that Micaiah the prophet, he says, He hates this prophet of God. Someone who's truly repentant doesn't hate a prophet of God. There's no question here that Ahab's motives are impure. There's no question that his repentance was not true repentance. His repentance here reminds us of someone who's in a crisis and they cry out to God in that crisis moment. And they really mean it in that moment on some level. Yet when they're out of that crisis, they go back to their old ways. A.W. Pink says this, quote, many have been afraid of God's wrath who would not part with their sins. Well, that's the bottom issue, isn't it? Ahab wouldn't part with his sin. He didn't want the effects of his sin. He didn't want the judgment that would come on him, but he wasn't willing to part with his sin. Well, because of the insincerity ultimately of Ahab's repentance here, what comes next might be a bit of a surprise to us. Verse 28, the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, seest thou how Ahab 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, I will bring the evil upon his house. We don't know at what junction this happens here, but if Ahab is putting on sackcloth, he's sleeping in the sackcloth here, some days have gone by. And sometime in this process, the word of the Lord comes to Elijah. And here's the news. The judgment is not canceled. Judgment's still going to happen. It's still on the calendar, but it's been delayed. It's been pushed back. It's not gonna happen in his lifetime. I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days. In other words, Ahab's gonna die first before any of this cutting off, this sweeping away takes place. He humbles himself before me. You see that? Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? That's how God describes this. And even though this is an incomplete humbling, It still has a temporal effect. It's as though Ahab gave a temporal repentance and he's given a temporal restoring. Well, let's not miss in this a picture of just how gracious and long-suffering God is. It's almost like God is going out of his way, if I can say it that way, to prove that no one can accuse him of being unmerciful. Even a fake repentance gets a temporal respite. There's a beautiful picture and encouragement to us in this. Matthew Henry says this quote, if a pretending partial penitent goes to his house, reprieved doubtless, a sincere penitent shall go to his house justified. So there's both a warning here and an encouragement. We see here a glory in just how good God is. how kind he is, but it should scare us too, in a sense. Ahab goes through the external appearance of genuine repentance, but his heart was not actually changed. Well, as this chapter is closing, what do we see with Elijah? He's no longer running for his life from Jezebel. He's back in the game. He's boldly confronting Ahab, pronouncing judgment on him. And the second half of this chapter brings closure to this injustice of the first half of the chapter. You see, God had been watching everything that happened to Naboth. Nothing that happened here was truly a secret. The conspiracy theory that they tried to throw that he had blasphemed God, that was all fake. God knew all the truth on that. You can't fool God. And so God sends his prophet Elijah to go to Ahab and to require it at Ahab's hand. There's no getting out of this. Blood for blood. Evil for evil, killing for killing, all these parallels would all come crashing on Ahab's head and on his house. We'll see the judgment that falls on Ahab in the very next chapter, the last chapter of 1 Kings. Well, there's many lessons that we can draw from this chapter. One thing we've not talked about is how Elijah here in all of this encounter is a model for how Christ's ministers should preach the truth. He doesn't sugarcoat this message to Ahab, does he? He doesn't try to be winsome and sugarcoated as many preachers do today. He confronts Ahab's sin plainly and directly, and there's lessons here for us. And notice he doesn't just tell Ahab that Ahab had sinned, but he tells Ahab what the consequences of that would be. He's faithful to tell him what the judgment result is. As I was putting this together, it occurs to me that when we soft-pedal the judgment of God, we're undermining God's truth in general. And in that sense, we're downplaying the faithfulness of God to his people as well. See God's judgment upon his enemies and his faithfulness to his people rise and fall together. I think Paul was getting at this in Romans 11 when he says, behold, therefore the goodness and severity of God on them, which fell severity, but toward the goodness, if I'll continue in his goodness, otherwise thou shalt be cut off, cut off. It's the same language there in verse 21 of our tax. There's a lot of theology today that fails to see just how good and severe God is. And in many ways, it's his severity that makes his goodness so good, isn't it? But there's another lesson that I want us to point out in this text, and that is this, be sure that your sin will find you out. I think when Ahab walked into the vineyard that next day, he was so sure he'd covered his tracks. He had it made. He was going to get away with it. See, he hadn't budgeted for an all seeing God. Who knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart? And who knows what goes on behind closed doors? If you have undealt with sin in your life, when you least expect it, God will send his messenger to you and reprove you as he did for Ahab. And so I want to urge you repent of your sin and sorrow over it for the right reason. Ahab did a lot of sorrowing here. He slept in burlap overnight. But it wasn't ultimately for the right reason. He didn't do it because it was displeasing to God. He didn't have a change of affections in his heart. He still loved his sin. He wasn't willing to put away his sin. And at the end of the day, there's two kinds of people, those who truly keep the commandments of God and those who are going to be eaten by dogs near the wall of Jezreel. So if you're a pretender like Ahab, what should you do? God doesn't want you to wear sackcloth. He wants a broken heart. That's what He wants. A broken and a contrite heart He will not despise. And you know, if you fake repentance, you might be able to trick people around you. If part of your sin is you've created a bad situation in life, A fake repentance can help smooth out earthly relationships. You can make it apologies that are insincere, but in the end you will still go to hell. Ahab still went to hell. He delayed things. He smoothed some things out. That's all it did for him. And so I urge to repent in sincerity and truth and you will find refuge, your soul. That the same God who was eager to delay the judgment on Ahab for his repentance will gladly cancel your judgment altogether when you repent with your whole heart. Let's bow in prayer. Our gracious God, we give you thanks for your word. May we tremble before your word. May we not pretend like Ahab with fake repentance. Lord, you know our hearts. Test us. Give us the grace to be honest with ourselves and to not self-deceive ourselves like Ahab did. May we truly live before you as did Elijah. May we love your ways. May we have hearts that delight after your commandments, your precepts. And may our love for what is right stem out of a love for you, the God of all truth, and a hatred for all that is against you. Lord, help us to be bold in our witness to a lost and dying world as Elijah was. Help us to call sin, sin. Help us to hold forth the judgment that awaits all those who do not turn to you in sincerity. May they know that you will hold them account and you will sweep them away as one sweeps away with a broom. May your name be glorified in all the earth we ask in Jesus name. Amen.