Well, glad to be with you. I've been praying the Lord would give us just what he wants this week. I want to take you to 1 Kings chapter 22, if you would. 1 Kings 22. Thanks for that introduction, Brother Beal. I love you. I pray for you every week. And God says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You know, when you're praying for people, that'll give you a heart for people. And so as I'm praying for him, obviously I'm praying for you as a student body, praying for faculty. I'm praying that God will raise up the students he wants here, but also the faculty to teach you. And he's answered that prayer over the years. So what a blessing to be back here. I grew up in New Jersey. I've lived now in Kansas City longer than I lived in New Jersey, but Missouri's home now. But as a boy, lived in the same house my whole life. And we didn't go to a church that preached the Bible. We went every week, but it was one of these liberal mainline Protestant denominations that didn't believe God's word. And my dad got saved through a man that he worked with. And I remember this coworker led my dad to Christ. And my dad thought, Why isn't my church telling me that? And so he started looking for churches in our denomination that preach the Bible. And we weren't finding any. So we visited an independent Baptist church in New Jersey, which was a rare thing back then. Open Bible Baptist in Williamstown, New Jersey. And they ran about 1,000 people on a Sunday morning at that time. And I remember when the pastor came to the pulpit, Brother Riddell, I didn't know him at the time, but he's wearing a suit. He had a Bible. and i was used to a minister with a robe in the backward collar and so he got up there and loosened his ties and said, all right, open your bibles with me and when a thousand people are opening their bible it makes quite a noise. Some of you have heard this story from me before. They're turning pages and my sisters were little kids and they said, mom, dad, is it raining? What's that noise? They had never heard the bible being opened in church. I hadn't either. And my dad realized, how can my kids know God? They don't even know the word. And that afternoon, my dad did what any parent should do. He took responsibility for his kid's salvation. And he came into my room. He had a Bible, and he sat on my bed. Now listen, when you go to a church that doesn't preach the Bible, and your dad walks into your room with a Bible, what would you be thinking? What have I done? And I couldn't think of anything, which was rare. And so he sat down on the bed, and he said, you're probably wondering why I brought my Bible in here, Rich. I said, yeah, Dad. He said, well, I want to talk to you about the most important thing you'll ever hear. And he opened up to John 3. I don't think my dad even knew what the Romans wrote at the time. And he took me through what it meant to be born again. And it's interesting, you know, before you'll ever get the good news, you have to receive the bad news. You've heard that. You've probably told people that. But my dad went through why I needed Christ. He said, here was a religious man, Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews. He was a Pharisee. They were the elite of the elite, spiritually or religiously. But he didn't know God. He didn't have salvation. And Jesus said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. My dad asked me, Richie, have you ever done anything wrong? This is my dad speaking. What am I going to say? No, not me, dad. Of course I had, and I knew it. He said, you know what sin is? Bad things. Can you name some things you've done? Well, I've talked back to you and mom, and I've fought with my sisters, and I've said bad words, and I've even used God's name like a curse word. I knew all those things were bad, but it's amazing that day that began to convict my heart and tears started coming down my cheeks because I was seeing that I didn't just do bad things, I had committed bad things as treason against God. I was convicted of my sin. And before you ever get saved, Jesus came preaching, repent and believe the gospel. Repent. You don't change your life in order to be acceptable to God, but you have to change your mind before you'll ever come to God and His terms. You have to change your mind about some things. You've got to change your mind about yourself. You're not a good person. Change your mind about sin. It's not a joke. Change your mind about the Savior. He didn't come just to help you get to heaven or start up a religion. He's the only way by which you can be saved. If you don't change your mind about some things, you'll never be saved. And I was under conviction, and God had bringing repentance to my life, and I later, that afternoon, would trust the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. And I noticed a pattern in my life. Whenever you're going to see God do something good, you first have to be willing to accept something bad, some bad news, some truth you really don't want to accept. Not long after that, we started going to a Bible preaching Baptist church. And I'd been saved at age 10, but I'd lost four years of discipleship, because we were still in our denomination, trying to find somebody that in that group preached the Bible. We didn't find any. So dad said, that's it. We're going wherever they preach the Bible. So we ended up in a little Baptist church about three miles from our house, 60 people on a Sunday morning. And when I went to the youth group there, the kid said, you listen to what? I wore t-shirts that said things like Led Zeppelin, Van Halen. My favorite group was ACDC. And I'm not happy to tell you this, certainly not proud about it, but this is my life. And the kids in the youth group said, you listen to what? I told them. They said, don't you know that's bad? I said, well, that's music. It's just entertainment. They said, that's bad. And I said, well, you guys like the Philadelphia Eagles? We live near Philadelphia. and at the time I like the Dallas Cowboys and they said well you know we can't tell you it's sin we think it's stupid but you know we can't tell you it's sin to like the Cowboys but but that music is bad here read this and they gave me some reading material about the morality of music and God began to work in my heart and I went from heavy metal headbanger to being totally surrendered whatever God wanted to do Well, I thought I was totally surrendered. Wasn't long after that, my parents said, we've decided next year we're going to put you in a Christian school. I said, Christian school? What's that? They said, well, they teach traditional subjects, math, English, history, et cetera. But they also teach the Bible. You have chapel every day. You're going to go to Gloucester County Christian School. I said, what about football? They said, well, they have a sports program. We checked. They have basketball and baseball and soccer. Soccer? Where's football? They said, well, they don't have football, but they do have soccer. I said, soccer is for sissies. I don't want to play soccer. Now, I know I just offended half of you, OK? Sorry. But at the time, I'd never played soccer. I just wanted to play football. Well, my parents said, you know, you're going to the Christian school. And I'm glad they did. I didn't want to hear it at first, but God changed my life. I even played soccer. I don't like it as much as football, but I played soccer, and I found out it's not for sissies after all. But I had a change of heart. And then about three weeks before graduation, I had been seeing this girl in high school that I thought I was going to marry. She and I had really taken an interest in each other. And my parents had cautions, and they just kept saying, slow it down. You're too attached. And finally, they said, you know what? We don't think you guys are the right ones for each other. You need to break it off. I'm 18 years old. I'm about to graduate from high school. I said, seriously? They said, we don't believe she's right for you. You're heading into the ministry and doesn't look like she is. And it's not going to be the right direction for you. You need to break this off. And with a broken heart, I knew to honor my parents, I broke off the relationship. You know what? They were right. She's not a bad girl. She's serving the Lord with her husband and family. But she wasn't heading into full-time ministry. And that's where God had called me. And it's interesting. As I look back, every time I heard something in life that Oh, it was hard. I didn't want to hear it. It was the tough thing. My life was at a fork in the road. Our friend at the Wilds, Ken Collier, often has said, just two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self. That is really true. You come to a fork in the road, just two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self. And the way you go at that fork in the road determines everything about your future. And if you ever notice, it's not easy to say yes to God, because saying yes to God typically means saying no to your flesh. I want to preach a message this morning I've entitled, Don't Tell Me What I Don't Want to Hear. Don't Tell Me What I Don't Want to Hear. That is the attitude of King Ahab. We'll read his story in 1 Kings 22. Would you go ahead and stand with me as we read from the text this morning? 1 Kings 22. Now, I'm going to do a cursory overview of the whole chapter. I won't have time to read every verse, obviously, with the time we've got. But I want to give you at least some context here. Read in verse 22, verse 1. I'll read aloud. Would you just follow there with your eyes? They continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. And it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel. Now, King of Israel is not named there. I put it in the margin of my Bible, Ahab. His name is not given anywhere in this chapter. Interestingly, it's as if Proverbs is being fulfilled here, the name of the wicked shall rot. He's named elsewhere. But in this chapter, he's not even named, it's just, yeah, that king, okay? Verse 2 says, And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth and Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Israel. and I'm sorry the king of syria and he said unto josh that will bow go with me to battle to ramoth gilead josh that said in the king of israel I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses is thy horses and josh that said in the king of israel inquire I pray thee at the word of the Lord today then the king of israel gathered the prophets together about 400 men and said unto them shall I go against ramoth gilead to battle or shall I forbear they said go up for the Lord shall delivered into the hand of the king josh that said Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might inquire of him? The king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imla, by whom we may inquire of the Lord. But I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. And the king of Israel called an officer and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imla. King of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, sat each on his throne, having put on their robes in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets prophesied before them. And Zedekiah, the son of Canaan, made him horns of iron. He said, thus saith the Lord, with these shalt thou push the Syrians until they have consumed them. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king, or into the king's hand. And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, behold now, The words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth. Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them. Speak that which is good. And Micaiah said, as the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. ever since i was a teenager after got my heart right with god but i became one of my favorite past uh... characters in scripture here's a guy says you know i don't know what everybody else is saying i know what everybody else in the religious realm is doing but that doesn't matter what does god say whenever god says that's what we're doing there been a time period here three years there was no war between syrian israel it wasn't because syria had become peaceable it wasn't because they they didn't want to attack the last time they'd gone out syria had been a routed by israel shouldn't happen was just an intervention of god effect in one day israel slew one hundred thousand syrian foot soldiers it's amazing intervention of god king ben hey dad the king of syria didn't have an army enough to come and attack And during this time of relative quiet, Ahab says, you know what, there's some property of ours up there that the Syrians have taken. I want it back. Let's go get it. Now we're going to look at four key truths, and we're going to take notes, and I like that what you said. I took notes all the way through college, chapel, and it changed my life. It kept me awake, too. But I tell my mom and dad that preaching in school is just the best. I would pay the money just to come and hear the preaching I'm getting in chapel. It's life-changing. But it always was a blessing to me when a preacher had an organized message that I could follow. And so I will give you clear points, OK? I'll give you something to follow. I'm going to give you four points today. We're going to start off with what Ahab wanted. Now, you don't have to write them down now. I'll make it clear for you later, OK? Just an overview. What Ahab wanted. Then we're going to see what Ahab didn't want. Then we're going to look at what Ahab didn't know. And finally, we'll see what Ahab got. Now, you may say, well, so what's that got to do with us? Well, you and I tend to be very much like Ahab. We know what we know. We know what we want, OK? And we know what we don't want. promise the things we don't know you know you ever heard somebody say what you don't know can hurt you okay here's what i'll show you they have knew what he wanted he knew what he didn't want but he didn't know what he didn't know and so when he got what he got he wished he hadn't got what he got and it's often the same for you and me that's why this is important father please use the message to teach us we often hear in history class those who do not learn from history or destined to repeat its mistakes Well, it's certainly true in the scripture. He said the things which happened unto them are in samples for us. Patterns, warnings, wake up, don't be a fool, don't do the same things. Help us to learn from Ahab's mistakes so we don't follow in like kind. And I ask that you'll give us a heart to be receptive to your truth above our flesh. In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for your patience. Go ahead and be seated. So we're gonna start off with what Ahab wanted, and this is in the first four verses. What Ahab wanted. What Ahab wanted was a little plot of land called Ramoth Gilead. It was a little city. It actually had been one of the cities of refuge. You may remember God appointed cities of refuge so if somebody committed an act of involuntary manslaughter, they could go there and they could be protected. So he wanted Ramoth Gilead. It had belonged to Israel. some point had been taken by the Syrians. It was good pasture land. They could raise cattle there, but there was strategic importance too. It's right on the border between Syria and Israel. And you know when nations are battling, whoever controls the cities on the border has a real upper hand at that border point. We could get into immigration. We could talk about the importance of secure borders I will refrain from that at this point, but you know what in Israel They're surrounded to this day by hostiles and so they said we want that property now God eventually was going to give that land back to him. This is interesting But it wasn't God's timing It's very important in the in the planning of God that you and I be in step not only with what God wants But with when God wants it We can often make mistakes by rushing ahead of God. Boy, there's a balance. Sometimes we want to rush ahead and bust doors open, break them open, get ahead of God. Sometimes we can lag behind and we are just dawdling and making a career out of waiting. you know god has a time and he has a will and god wants you in step with as well the steps of a good man or ordered by the lord we know the scripture some thirty seven twenty three well steps are delivered in their one at a time and they lead to a destination you want to be in step with god if you're gonna end up to be at the place of god and so here's a happy so i want that i want that property right there Notice he's accompanied here by a man named Jehoshaphat. Now, Jehoshaphat's an interesting character in scripture. He's intriguing. He was a good man in most every respect. In fact, Judah only had about eight good kings. Some of you remember studying the kings. Israel had no good kings. Ahab was notoriously wicked. He could jot down 1 Kings 16.30-34. We'll give you the life story of Ahab in a nutshell. He was notoriously wicked. Above all this, he added to his sins that he took to wife Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. You read about him in 1 Kings 16.30 and following. But if you took time, we won't do it, but 2 Chronicles 17 gives you a really good description of Jehoshaphat's life. You remember Israel and Judah had divided. You remember after King Solomon, Rehoboam was in a quandary, what am I going to do? And the younger men said, you make your reign tougher than your dad. And the older men said, you better lighten up because your dad was pretty demanding. And if you don't lighten up, you're going to lose the people. Well, he took the advice of the young men. And so the nation divided. God used it all. And you remember the northern tribes became known as Yeah, Israel. And they were headquartered at Samaria. Later on, the Samaritans. You know what happened? They set up their own capital and they set up their own religion, too, didn't they? Worship of false gods. And Ahab was among the cream of the worst, okay? He was the sludge of the sludge. And he is vile. He is into false religion. His wife is despicably wicked. So Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, comes down to him. This is an unlikely alliance. There was one blind spot in Jehoshaphat's life, and that is he would make alliances in compromising situations, and it is an act that was going to come back to haunt him. This wasn't the only time that this happened. his son would later go on to marry Ahab and Jezebel's daughter and would bring corruption to Judah. Every decision you make affects the next decision you make. That's the important truth. Every decision you make affects the next decision you make. And so why Jehoshaphat hooked up with this man? Never forget this. The Bible tells us that he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. God in his mercy showed kindness to Jehoshaphat, but his compromising alliance would come down to haunt his family in years to follow. Now, what did Ahab want? He wanted Ramoth Gilead. And notice he said to Jehoshaphat, In verse 3, he says to his servants, in verse 3, knowing not that Ramoth and Gilead is ours, we be still and taken not out of the hand of the king of Israel, or king of Syria. He said, look, it's up there. It's waiting to be taken. Let's go get it. Look at the response in verse 4. And he said to Jehoshaphat, will thou go with me to battle to Ramoth and Gilead? Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. In other words, count on me. You've got my manpower. You've got my army at your disposal. Let's go get them. Okay, so all sounds pretty strategic, sounds just like it's merely in the realm of military strategy. Would you notice something? Every area of your life is in the realm of the sacred. You can't compartmentalize your life. Sometimes you hear people say, well, you know what I do in my personal life does not affect my public life. I wonder if Tiger Woods still would think that if he were completely honest. Politicians who say, oh, you know what happens in my personal life doesn't affect my private life. It most certainly does. You can't compartmentalize. And so he knows, all right, I want Raymond Gilley. Let's go get it. Sounds like, OK, strategically good move. Now let's see what happens next. And as we transition, I'm going to go to verses 5 to 18 with you. And we will look at what Ahab didn't want, what Ahab did not want. I want you to think of a lesson from history. There was a tiny island out in the Pacific. known as Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was five miles long. At its widest point, it was two and a half miles wide. It's the middle of the North Volcano Islands in the Pacific. tiny little nothing dot in the Pacific Ocean. And yet, in February and March 1945, over 6,000 Allied troops gave their lives to liberate Iwo Jima from the Japanese. 5,800 of those who died were United States Marines. Third, fourth, and fifth divisions of the U.S. Marines died Liberating Iwo Jima, it's less than four square mile or eight square miles Why why would they die for that basically the only thing at Iwo Jima? or some airstrips that the Japanese were using to launch their zeros their fighters and Their fighters were gunning down the b-29s on their raids into Japan When the US and its allies were able to take back little tiny spot in the Pacific called Iwo Jima, now we had a place for emergency landings for the B-29 bombers on their raids from Tinian and Saipan. We had a place to launch our fighters to protect our bombers. You ever heard the old adage, if you give him an inch, he'll take what? A mile. It's true in the flesh. It's true in the realm of the world. It's true certainly with Satan. If you give an inch, the enemy will take a mile. Iwo Jima had to be taken. And in your life, there may seem these areas, well, it's not that big a deal. It's just a little thing. Solomon observed, take the little foxes that spoil the vine. Little areas, a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump, wrote the Apostle Paul. He knew what he wanted. But he knew what he didn't want, too. Notice this, pick up in verse 5. Verse 5 tells us, Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today. Now this is evidently not a formality with Jehoshaphat. He was in the habit of seeking God. It's a good reminder for all of us. He said, you know, before we make this move, we need to ask God if this is a good thing or not. Verse 6, the king of Israel gathered the prophets together. About 400 men said, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? They said, Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. Josh said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? Now, what's going on here? Who are these guys? All right, I'm going to show you what Ahab didn't want. There are three things he didn't want. First of all, he did not want a word from the Lord. He didn't want a word from Jehovah. He said, well, he's got 400 prophets. Yeah, I remember back when President Clinton had his spiritual advisors. And it's very interesting, too, because you know what most presidents will do? They'll surround themselves with a bunch of yes men. anybody that's uh... narcissistic is going to surround themselves with people that'll tell them what they want to hear and uh... so there are plenty of people in government that they'll they'll just get themselves somebody uh... yes committee that's going to say uh... oh sure that's great that's what these guys are who are the four hundred profits well i'm back in a started a study in the scripture in at the well maybe the profits of bail no they all got killed in first king's chapter eighteen member the showdown but there were four hundred other profits that day on property That didn't die. They were called prophets of the grove. Now grove was a place where they would erect these idols. It's like a grove of trees except it was a grove of idols. And evidently these are the 400 prophets of the grove. They didn't get killed by Elijah back there at the showdown at Mount Carmel. And so there is no lack of spiritual advisory going on. The problem is it's not God's advisory committee. We live in a day, people are all into spiritual things. They're into finding their little guru, finding some, you know why? They're so bereft of truth, they're just, they're hungry for anything spiritual. And no marvel, Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. So they got 400 prophets and they all go, oh yeah, you go up and get it. The Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. They don't even name Baal, the Lord will give it into the king's hand. And Jehoshaphat sees all through this, he says, Isn't there one prophet of Jehovah besides? Now, notice this. I love how the Bible is so frank about the response here. Ahab doesn't even gloss it over. Verse 8, he says, Well, there's one man, Micaiah, the son of Imla, by whom we may inquire the Lord, but I hate him. He doth not prophesy good concerning him, but evil. Did you get the idea they'd had run-ins before? Evidently, there's a history here, right? And I went back and searched. Okay, where do we see Micaiah in Scripture? I'm going to look it up in my concordance and trace his history. the trail ends here there's no other mention that's very interesting in the writings of josephus the jewish historian he refers to mackay as being part of this the plot in first kings twenty nine first things twenty that's the last time syrian israel mixed up that's when god it's he told him kill all don't spare one man for whatever reason they have spared the life of ben haydad the king of syria shouldn't do it as a as an act is going to come back to haunt him And there was a prophet who disguised himself in peasant attire he's not named in the scripture and He beckons the king and the Kings on his way back from battle. He says okay The king comes over, what is it? He says, well, one of your soldiers left in my custody, a man of war. And he said, but I got distracted and he got away. And now they're going to take my life. And King Ahab says, basically, well, serves right. You let go a man God appointed for destruction. Now your life will go for his life. The prophet takes off the disguise and says, oh, king, because you've let go a man that God appointed for destruction, your life will go for his life. Well, now the Bible doesn't tell us who that is. Josephus speaks of him as being Micaiah, as if everybody knows that. Let me tell you, Josephus is not God, so you can't take history and put it on the same level as the Bible. But I will tell you this, it wouldn't contradict the Bible. Evidently, we can infer from this that these guys had run-ins before, so it's likely that the unnamed prophet in 1 Kings 20 could have been Micaiah. If not, you get the idea that that type of encounter had happened because he doesn't like him one bit. Ahab can't stand Micaiah. He doesn't want a prophet. He doesn't want a preacher from the Lord. Okay, so he doesn't want a word from the Lord. Then he doesn't want a visit from the preacher. In verse 8, he says, well, there's this one man, Micaiah, but I hate him. And notice Jehoshaphat's response. He says, well, let not the king say so, in verse 8. Verse 9, the king of Israel called an officer and said, hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imla. You can tell he's reluctant. Now, where is the prophet? Oh, he knows exactly where he is. You're going to find out in the later part of the chapter, he's in prison. In biblical times, why were prophets usually in prison? Well, it wasn't for molesting children, and it wasn't for tax evasion. typically preachers in scripture ended up in prison it's because they were telling the truth and the authorities didn't want to hear it and evidently you're gonna find out that he's been in prison at ahab's demand put him in prison okay so he doesn't want a word from the lord he doesn't want a visit from the preacher well if you keep on going what follows there they're out in this void place this open place in samaria the prophets are coming before him and they're all telling him oh you go up and get ramoth gilead Now, this guy that goes to Becca and Micaiah, we read this earlier in verse 13, he speaks to him and says, Micaiah, look, all the prophets are telling the king what he wants to hear. He says it this way, they all speak good to the king. Now, you know what their definition of good is? Don't ruffle any feathers, make him happy, tell him what he wants to hear. Evidently, this messenger feels some kind of compassion for Micaiah. He said, just let your word be like the word of one of them. Why? Well, maybe we don't want to ruffle the king's feathers or maybe so you don't have to come back to this place Okay, just tell him what he wants. He's giving him a hint. Everybody else is telling him. It's good. What does Micaiah say? verse 14 as the Lord liveth What the Lord saith unto me? That will I speak boy underline that and put brackets around on my Bible to grab my attention That's the right attitude for a preacher Whatever God says that's what I'm gonna say All right, so what he didn't want, he didn't want a word from the Lord, he didn't want a visit from the preacher. Matthew Henry said this, unity is not always the mark of a true church or a true ministry. Here were 400 men that prophesied with one mind and one mouth, yet all in error. You guys will hear, folks will tell you they're out there planting churches and the ministerial association will come to them. Why don't you come? Oh, it's, you ought to be part of it. And the hard thing is they'll have these evangelical guys who are preaching the gospel, but they're in with others who are not preaching the gospel that while we need a united front in our community, we need to all just get along. You don't have to curl your lip and spit in their face. You don't have to be unkind. You don't have to say, well, whatever the Lord says to me, that will, I said, I don't think Micaiah said it, you know, with some kind of snarl in the lip. I think you just know, you know, if it doesn't line up with the word of God, I can't do it. I just can't do it. All right, now, what happens at this point? Well, verse 15, he came to the king, and the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, go and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. Wait a minute. like i did you just say whatever god says that's what you're gonna say i'd love to picture the scene in my mind uh... picture mike i i'm sorry kicking a heads up here he's got all of his royal robes on i imagine he doesn't even look at my client when my client comes and i can picture with his back to my client So, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall we forbear? Meanwhile, Micaiah's down here now. You can be sure they haven't let him clean up. They don't want any sense of dignity with him at all. He may still be in shackles. Perhaps he's wearing the same clothes with which he was in prison three years earlier. So he's in rags. He's got stubble on his face. Well, probably a full-grown beard. He's scruffy. He's dirty. the king doesn't want any sense of uh... equality between them so degraded as much as you can shall we go as well if you lead to battle show everywhere mike i was down here and he says okay going prosper my first thought was now you're getting in the heat of the moment you're going to compromise like this just follow what's happening this is this is a brilliant my car has just played the king's head the king turns around to how many times so i enjoyed it that i'll tell me nothing but what is true in the name of the lord allow he just told him all you don't prosper that's what all four hundred profits were sent and now he he makes it evident that he knows that's not what jehovah said he's knows that's not what the lord said you see this in verse sixteen how many times like jordy good night as if he actually were going to demand the profit on the truth talk about role reversal verse seventeen and he that's what i said i saw all israel scattered upon the hills a sheep that have not a shepherd the lord said these have no master let them return every man to his house in peace king of israel said in joshua did i not tell me he would not promise a good concerning me but evil okay do you see what's happening this reminds me of kids who say mom did you hear what she said i have you know Immaturity is just fed by carnality, by fleshly living. And here is my guy, okay, go and prosper. How many times shall I tell you, you tell me whatever God says. Well, now he just told him that's not it. You give me the right answer. Okay? So he now has the king's injunction. You tell me what's right. He says, all right, I'll tell you what's happening. I saw all Israel scattered on the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd. The Lord said, these have no master. You know what that means? He's saying, if you go off to battle, the army is going to be scattered and you're going to be dead. And once Ahab's response to this, he turns to Joshua, I told you, he never says anything good concerning me but evil. It reminds you of the kids in school who always said, I don't know why I'm always in trouble. I mean, so and so's like a teacher's pet, and I'm always in trouble. Well, hello. The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Why do the wicked flee? Because they're guilty. And Ahab, there's a reason that you're not being told the truth. You're not being told what you want to hear because you're not doing the right thing. I remember years ago, hearing a quote from Dr. Oliver B. Green. He was an evangelist in Greenville, South Carolina. He said this, if rough, rugged religion rubs men the wrong way, it ought to turn around so to rub them the right way. If rough, rugged religion rubs men the wrong way, better turn around so to rub them the right way. My little four-year-old daughter I saw recently, she had a cat at somebody's house last year. She was three. And she was rubbing the cat against the fur, against the grain. Have you ever seen kitties when they get rubbed against the grain? The cat is about ready to claw my child. And I said, let me turn the kitty around this way. And then the cat is like... And I was much more at peace when my daughter wasn't getting clawed to pieces. Now, you know, if you rub the cat the wrong way, you're going to get clawed. Well, listen, folks, there are times that the truth of God's gonna rub you the wrong way. Guess what? God isn't changing. You turn around, then he'll rub you the right way. So what he didn't want, he didn't want a visit from the preacher, he didn't want a word from the Lord. And then one more thing, he did not want a command to the contrary. He did not want a command to the contrary. He didn't want somebody telling him what he didn't want to hear. Why is it that so many people have left good, fundamental, independent Baptist churches? Well, they're just not friendly. Now, there's a legitimate gripe there sometimes. Well, they're not very well organized. That could be, but you know why a lot of people are leaving realms like you and I are from? Because they're hearing truths that they really don't want to hear. I mean, why go to a church where you're going to have, thus saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and be holy for I am holy, when you can go and jam for Jesus on Sunday morning? You can get a crowd, you get a big crowd. Just give them what they want. 400 prophets on one hand saying, oh yeah, just go. They're in the employ of the king, yeah, they've got the king happy. They're not thinking about the day they're going to meet God. Micaiah is only thinking about the day he's going to meet God. Now, look at the response here after he says, he never tells me anything but what I don't want to hear. Verse 17. He said, sorry, verse 19, he said, hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. The Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? One said on this matter, another said on that matter. It came forth a spirit, stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him. The Lord said unto him, Wherewith? He said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also. Go forth and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord has sent a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. Zedekiah, the son of Canaan, went near and smote Micaiah in the cheek and said, Which way went the spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee? Micaiah said, behold, thou shalt see in that day when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. King of Israel said, take Micaiah, carry him back unto Ammon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, thus saith the king, put this fellow in the prison and feed him with the bread of affliction and with the water of affliction until I come in peace. And Micaiah said, if thou return it all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said, hearken, O people, every one of you. All right, there's a lot going on here. Number three I want you to see is what Ahab didn't know. What Ahab didn't know. What you don't know can hurt you. What Ahab didn't know was behind the scenes, there was a, I hate to say it this way, but it's as it were a committee meeting in heaven. Now the Lord is the head. But he brings these angelic spirits before him and he says, okay now, who's gonna persuade Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? This is very interesting, you know, these are Anthropomorphism there are ways that God expresses himself in human terms, so we'll understand God doesn't need to consult with anybody Okay, but for whatever reason he of course uses met angels as messengers He says all right now. How are we gonna persuade a have to prevail as if God didn't have ideas? He knows just what to do, but there's this one who comes and says I got a plan You let me get into all his prophets, and I'll be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets And I thought okay wait a minute Angels are messengers and God's angels would have to be messengers of truth Who's this guy? The only conclusion that we can come to is that he is a demonic spirit an unclean spirit now remember even the demons are subject to God Remember the book of Job where Satan comes before God and well if you consider my servant job Yeah, but if you let me touch his body or touch his family, take his possessions away, he'll curse you. Alright, you may touch his property, but don't touch him. And Satan could not act without God's permission, without God allowing. Evidently, this is a demonic spirit. You think, why would God use that? Why would God use someone like this? Remember, if you're going to serve the devil, ultimately God will turn you over to the devil. He will turn you over to the wicked one. There comes a day In fact, another quote I remember reading one time from Matthew Henry, he said, if thou wilt fly from God, Satan will lend thee both horse and spurs, that thy retreat may be hasty. He'll give you everything you want to rebel, but Satan has no loyalties. When it comes time, when your end comes, he will turn on you. It's exactly what happens here. Well, I'll arrange his destruction. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to what? Destroy. And Ahab's time's up. So he says, all right, I'll persuade him. I'll get in all his prophets. I'll give them a message they'll think's from you. And Ahab will go up to Ramoth Gilead. When these messengers, these prophets got a message, it wasn't just they made it up. In fact, when Micaiah says this is what happened, this false prophet, Zedekiah, he goes and says, which way went the spirit of the Lord for me to speak to thee? He strikes him in the face. Ooh, the audacity. This is one of the false prophets speaking in the Lord's name." And Jehoshaphat said, you'll see. I'm sorry, Micaiah said, you'll see in that day you go to an inner chamber to hide yourself. When the war goes bad, you're going to find out. Now, these men really were persuaded that they'd gotten a supernatural message. And the truth was they had. They did get a supernatural message. It just didn't come from God. You say, but God allowed it. Yes, He did. Those who love the truth, God will lead to more truth. Those who refuse the truth, they will be prey to more lies. And that's exactly what happens here. You remember the Bible tells us that in the time of Antichrist, that those that did not receive the love of the truth will believe a lie? Anybody who doesn't know Jesus Christ during the Tribulation, God's going to be giving the message to those who haven't heard, who don't know. But those who knew the truth and didn't receive the love of it, they will be deceived. You say, well, I think if the rapture occurred right now and everybody disappeared, well, then I'd just believe right now. No, you wouldn't. Because you know the truth. You've heard the truth. And if you haven't received it before he comes, you will believe a lie. is that the Ahab is about to believe a huge lie, and it's going to cost him. So, what he didn't know. He says, you go up there, you're going to fall. Well, guess what happens? Well, let's finally look at what Ahab got. Now, I won't take time to read all this, but if you go from verses 29 to 38, you'll see what happened. Let me give a highlight or two here. Verse 29, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth Gilead, and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I'll disguise myself and enter into the battle, order why he's doing that but put down by robes and the king of israel disguised himself and went to battle the king of syria has been a dead commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over stressing fight neither was small nor great save only with the king of israel so they're not supposed to kill anybody this is going to be a unique battle he says we're not out there to to take lives from the people of Israel, all I want is King Ahab. Remember, the one guy that Ahab spared in the previous battle was this king of Syria, and now he's coming back to haunt him. You think, well, it's no big deal. It's just one thing, the one area in your life that you negotiate with the flesh, with the area that will lead to your destruction. And so he says, OK, well, just don't fight with anybody else, just Ahab. Well, now, these soldiers, they're used to going out and killing and conquering. And they're not allowed to fire an arrow. They're not allowed to swing a sword at anybody but Ahab. So they go out to battle, and they're trying to maneuver their way. And look at verse 34. A certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness. Wherefore, he said unto the driver of his chariot, turn thine hand, carry me out of the host, for I am wounded. The battle increased that day, and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even. The blood ran out of the wound in the midst of the chariot. There went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, every man to his city, every man to his own country. So the king died, was brought to Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria, and one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood. And they washed his armor according to the word of the Lord, which he spake. What I have got, okay, here's what he got. He got death, verses 34 and 35. He got defeat, verse 36, his army is set to flight. And he got disgrace. Verse 37 and 38, the dogs come and lick his blood. His life is absolutely in ruins. Just the prophet said, death, defeat, and disgrace. There's the demise of Ahab in 3D, if you will. Death, defeat, disgrace. That's what happened. That's what he got. You never prosper if you're going to turn and do your own thing. I never forget when those kids in my youth group said, you listen to what? Don't you know that's bad? I was addicted to heavy metal. I didn't want to hear that. I never forget when my parents said to me, that girl is going to be your undoing. Mom, it's not like we're doing anything immoral. It's not like we want to do bad. We're trying to do bad stuff. No, but you're not going the same direction. It's not. This is going to be a distraction from what God's called you to do. You know something? Good things in life are enemy to the best things in life because of time. Good things in life are enemy to the best things in life because of time. There are a lot of good things. A lot of good things can be a distraction. Ramoth Gilead would eventually be God's will for the people of Israel to have, but the problem is Ahab wanted what he wanted when he wanted it. Ahab's attitude was, don't tell me what I don't want to hear. And unfortunately, that's the attitude of a lot of us as Christians. The Savior's attitude as he sweated in the Garden of Gethsemane with drops of blood was, Father, if it be possible, Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. When Paul was on the road to Damascus and he was struck off his high horse, literally, he said, who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus, whom thou persecust. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Now Paul comes to the place where he submits to the authority of Christ. I wonder, have you submitted yourself to the authority of Christ? We are saved by grace. We don't make him Lord, he is Lord. But discipleship is where we learn to yield to his Lordship. Not, don't tell me, I don't want to hear. But Lord, speak Lord. Thy servant heareth. Your attitude in this matter will shape the entire course of your life, your history, your ministry. Let's bow our heads together. Thank you, Father, for this tragedy. If this were in the realm of a play, this would be a tragedy, and it is a tragedy. But I thank you that in your grace you give us warning so we don't have to continue down the same path to destruction. So please speak as I have felt impressed of you that this would be the way to prep the ground for the week ahead as we talk about revival and surrender to you and serving you. It all starts with a surrendered will. So please work in our hearts.