Now in 1st Kings chapter 20,
let's read verse 31 again. And his servants, Ben-Hadad's
servants, the Israeli army had just come to this town where Ben-Hadad
is hiding and destroyed everybody that fled from the battle. and
Bid-Hadad is hiding out for his life, his servants said, behold
now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful
kings. Let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth
on our loins and ropes upon our heads and go out to the king
of Israel. Peradventure he will save thy
life. Now one of these The one that these servants are
speaking to is being hated as we've said who was king of syria
the syrians had just been Soundly defeated the prophet came to
ahab and told him that they would be that israel would be victorious
And they just destroyed the syrian army And the story here in verses
31 through 34 is a beautiful picture of the gospel. How had
Ben-Hadad come to the place where he was? Let's start there, where
are you? Where are you, Ben-Hadad? As
good as dead, hiding from the wrath of the one that he had
grossly offended. You remember, Ben-Hadad said,
all right, Ahab, everything that's yours is mine. and I'm coming
to take it. And then not only the gold and
silver and his wives and children, but then when Ahab agreed to
that, he said, well, I'm just gonna come to your house and
I'm just gonna take everything you love, everything you love. So grossly offended King Ahab, And he's hiding now from this
one whom he had offended and whose wrath is hanging over his
head. So where is he? What had caused
Ben-Hadad to come to this place? Enmity. Enmity. His determination to dishonor and disgrace the
king of Israel. Listen to verse one of chapter
20 again. And Benhadad, the king of Syria,
gathered all his host together, and there were 30 and two kings
with him, and horses and chariots, and he went up and besieged Samaria
and warred against it. That's us by nature. We've declared
war on God since the moment we had breath to do it. and the
sense to do it. Ben-Hadad was at war against
the king of Israel. It says Samaria in the verse. But in gospel terms, he was at
war against God's king. Now understand that Ahab was
a wretch. He was an idolatrous, rebellious,
proud, godless wretch But he was the king of God's people
at the time and he represents He was the king of Israel he
represents the eternal king of the Israel of God Very clearly
all all through these Old Testament stories in the in the in the
books of Samuel and Chronicle and the Kings and That's the clearest of all types
and pictures. The king of Israel is the king
of the Jews who had that very statement in three languages
nailed above his head when he shed his blood for our sins.
This is Jesus, the king of the Jews, and Ben-Hadad was at war
Against him just as we are by nature for to be carnally minded
is death What happened to this Syrian army To be carnally minded
is death But to be spiritually minded is life and peace because
the carnal mind is enmity against God As long as we've known what it
is to shake a fist we've been shaking ours in God's face and
The fool hath said in his heart, no God, no God for me. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. Ben-Hadad was facing death
now, that's where he was, because to be at enmity with the king
of God's people is death, to be carnally minded is death.
Look what his servants, said to Ben-Hadad, now we have heard,
we've heard. You know what you call that?
News. The news has reached our ears that there's mercy. There might just be mercy. What news was it they had specifically? The kings of Israel are merciful. That's what we've heard. That's
the news that's reached our ears. That's good. That's what they
needed, right? So there was good news passed
on to Ben-Hadad, news of mercy. When did you hear for the first
time that there might be mercy for you? Even if you can't remember
the hour, You probably remember that you heard it. There's mercy,
there's mercy for me. There might just be mercy. And
look at their proposal. They didn't decide to go out
to Ahab and say, we're ready for you to show mercy on us now.
The attitude is significant here. How are you gonna come before
the King of glory, whom you have grossly offended? How are you
gonna do that? Dancing around and banging tambourines? Don't recommend it. They said, let's go out in manifest
humility. Let's show the king that we know
where we stand with him. Let's put sackcloth on. and a
rope on our head. I didn't look into that because
it doesn't matter. It's clear that it means we're going to
come pitiful and pathetic before him. We're going to come showing
the fact that we're, our hands are out. So let's go out in manifest humility
and ask. and ask, and just maybe, just
maybe, peradventure, peradventure, the king will have mercy on us. He just might. We've heard something. We've heard something good about
the king. Sinners need to understand. We
need to understand. It don't matter how long ago
you heard or how long ago you came, how long ago you believed. We still come in the same way,
aren't we? Lord, we need you tonight. We need you tonight
as much as we did the first time we heard of you. We're mercy beggars yet. And we need to understand, and
sinners in this world need to understand that contrary to the
blather that is preached in free will religion, it's not up to
you. Let's find out if God will have
mercy on us. It's up to Him, isn't it? You stand at the mercy of God. The one who said, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. That's how they came, wasn't
it? We've heard he's merciful. Let's go ask him. Let's go find
out if he'll have mercy on us. He may not. They didn't take
it for granted. They didn't come haughty. They
didn't come presumptuously. And nor can we ever before the
throne of God. It's not a question of our will.
It's a question of God's will. The servant of the Lord must
not strive. He must not strive, but be gentle
unto all, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing
those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give,
will give. Give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth. Salvation is his gift and he
gives it to whomsoever he will. Second Timothy 2 24 and 25 now
these men presented themselves before the only one who could
save them Was the one that they had offended and they asked to
be saved Maybe he'll save Maybe he'll save They came and asked
verse 32. So they girded sackcloth on their
loins and they put ropes on their heads and they came to the king
of Israel and You see what he's called here? We know that Ahab,
we look beyond the type and the picture and the earthly story
here. And we see the clear gospel by
God's grace in this, the King of Israel. And they said this,
thy servant Ben-Hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, is he yet alive? He didn't get killed in the battle? He's my brother. This doesn't make any sense in
the earthly story, does it? Think about what Ben-Hadad had
said and done to Ahab. How do you say he's my brother? You say that because the king
of Israel, the eternal king of God's elect, has those in this world who have
grossly offended him, but yet he's not ashamed to call them
brethren. Bless God, he's not ashamed. In verse 31 now, all of this
is just theory. It's just theory. It's based
on fact. They heard something, it was
true. That the kings of Israel are
merciful kings. They knew some things, but it's
all just theory in verse 31. And I fear that this is where
many stop in the matter of their spiritual condition. Now you
think about this with me. They know they're goners. He
was right about that. Nowhere else to run. Not a leg
to stand on. Nothing to plead except mercy. That's it. Mercy. They knew that. They believe in total depravity.
Yeah, we're in trouble before God. We're goners. We're wretched
and foul in His sight, and He can't have anything to do with
us but to drop us in hell. We need mercy. They know that.
They know that God is sovereign. This is a king we're dealing
with. We're going to have to come before Him in the right
way. And we're going to show Him that
we know that. They know that salvation is up
to him and not them. That's true. They know that only the King
of Israel can have mercy on these sinners, such as they are. They have all this correct doctrine,
this head knowledge, this truth in their heads. But if that's
where it stops, they're still gonna die. Still gonna die. Many have the knowledge in their
head They know all the doctrine just
like Satan does They're almost as doctrinally sound as the devil But if that's where it stops
Still gonna die You've got to come don't you? You've got to
believe You can't just be hearers of
the word only. You can't just believe that God's
sovereign. You got to bow. You can't just believe that he
saves totally depraved sinners. You've got to cast your soul
upon him. You've got to come before him and cast yourself upon his mercy. Now, no man can come unto Christ
Jesus except God the Father, which sent Christ, draw them
to Christ. But come you must. It doesn't say no man can come.
It says no man can come except. You've got to come. God commands
it. Knowing that's how sinners are
saved is one thing, and actually coming to the Lord Jesus Christ
by faith in Him is another. It really is another. Coming
to Him as your only righteousness before God. Casting off your
filthy rags and saying, Christ is all in the matter of my standing
before God. You can't just know that it's
not about you accepting Him. It's about Him accepting you.
You've got to be accepted of Him. Coming to Him who's precious
blood. It's one thing to believe in limited atonement. It's another thing to wash your
robe and make it white. in that precious blood. Actually coming to Christ, look
what they said to the one who had their lives in his hand. This doesn't happen every day.
And what a glorious picture this is of our condition before God. This man literally, all he had
to do was say the word. and heads are gonna roll. Look what they said, I pray thee,
let me live. Religion loves to talk about
let God, let go and let God. God wants to save you if you'll
let him. This is a whole other story here
and this puts the shoe on the other foot. This is the opposite
of what religion said. Isn't it remarkable how that
so much that free will, man-centered, false religion teaches is exactly
the opposite of the truth. It's not just off a little bit. It's up to man's will. That's
the opposite of the truth. We are at his will. Letting God. We don't let God. He lets you. If it pleases him
to do so, let me live. That's the gospel. That's the
good news. I've heard that with God there's
mercy and that there's a way. Though I have grossly offended,
though he ought to put me in hell, Ahab should have put Ben-Hadad
on the ground before him and watched his head be cut off.
That's what should have happened. If you come before God trying
to let Him do something, not only are you an abomination to
Him, but you're a goner. There's no hope. That's not how salvation happens.
And look at the beautiful response from King Ahab here. What a beautiful, what a wonderful
response from the one in charge. from the one who decides, is he yet alive? Or you reckon we're supposed
to take from that, that no matter how vile somebody is, if they're
still alive, there's hope for them. Kind of sounds like it. No matter how hopeless they are. No matter how grossly they offend
God with every breath. Is he yet alive? And then look what he said about
this horrible, horrible king. This wretch who made war with
him for no good reason. No good reason. He just up and
decided one day, everything that you own is mine now. Our Lord Jesus said, for which
of these good works do you stone me? For no good reason whatsoever,
we're at war with God. We despise the very one who breathed
life into our chest. This wretch who insulted him,
but by trying to take all that he owned and wanted to shame
him and disgrace him by violating his very home and showing utter
contempt for him in every way that you possibly could. And
yet Ahab says, he's my brother. It's even better than you thought,
Ben-Hadad. You came hoping for mercy, not
taking that at all for granted. And you find out not only that
he's gonna let you live, but he delights in you, even
as if you were his own brother. That doesn't even seem to make
sense in the earthly story, does it? It's not about the earthly
story. That's just a picture. Notice in the following verse
why the Lord Jesus Christ, not the following verse in our text,
but the verse I'm about to quote here. I actually would like you
to turn there, Hebrews 2.10. Notice in this verse why the
Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call us his brothers. Hebrews
2.10. for it became him for whom are all things and by
whom are all things and bringing many sons unto glory to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. He suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust that he might bring us to God. For both he
that sanctifies and they which are sanctified are all of one. We're sanctified with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or without spot. He is the one that sanctifies,
not us. And we are the ones that are
sanctified by him. And because of that, because we are made holy and
without blemish in his sight by that precious sin-cleansing
blood, he's not ashamed to call us his brother. Being sanctified by his precious
blood in Christ Jesus, we're better off than we could have
ever even hoped for. Not just forgiven, but delighted
in. Not only an object of mercy,
but a brother, a child of God, loved with an everlasting love. It's better than we could have
ever imagined. And look what Ahab said to Ben-Hadad
a long time before Ben-Hadad ever asked for mercy. This is
Ben-Hadad in his pride and in his rebellion and in his hatred,
in his enmity against the king of Israel. But look what he said,
what a beautiful picture. And again, Ahab wasn't a pushover. It almost doesn't make any sense
in the earthly story. But when God shows us The gospel
here. Listen to this. This is way back
in verse four. Look at verse four with me. And
the king of Israel, that's Ahab, answered, even though insulted
already, even though enmity expressed against him by this wretch, he
said, my lord, O king, according to that saying, I'm yours and
everything I have. Did God say that to us before
we even knew him? Was that true? Before God turned the tables on us,
and instead of us being proud before him and haughty, self-made
men, and I'm the master of my fate, when God turned our world
upside down and all of a sudden we're begging for mercy, Long
before that, though, was this true, that He was ours and everything
He had. God commendeth His love toward
us, and that while we were yet been hated, Can you imagine being
more offensive and vile and wanting to destroy somebody? And if you
had the power to put them in hell, you'd do it than Ben-Hadad
in the early part of this chapter. Are you kidding me? And yet in that while we were
yet sinners, the Savior died for us. He was mine and everything
he had. Notwithstanding the circumstances
of the earthly story here, this is a glorious reminder of how
that our king of the Jews had predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of his son, and we were already benefiting from
that predestinating grace long before we ever came to him in
repentance and faith that he gave us. The riches of his infinite
love and blessing were already upon us, long before we came to him for
mercy. Now, just like Ahab drew a line,
didn't he? He drew a line. When it came
to what Ben-Hadad could have and what he could do, the Lord's
loved us with an everlasting love. In our wretchedness though,
there's a line. When Ben-Hadad said, I'm just
gonna come humiliate you. I'm already gonna have everything
that you own. I'm just gonna come now and dishonor
you in every way that I can. Everything you love, I'm gonna
take it. Not gonna happen. The King of Israel here is well
represented in this too. God will not give his glory to
anybody. You're not gonna give His glory
to anybody now. This is all gonna be done in a way that ultimately
glorifies the King of the Jews. Our Lord Jesus Christ. But not exclusive to that is
the truth that all things are ours in Christ. All things are ours. Everything
He has. How shall he not also freely with him give us all things? He that spared not his own son. Oh, in spite of our enmity, he's
generous. In contrast to our spite, he's
gracious. I am thine. I am thine. I love that song that says, in
a love which cannot cease, I am his and he is mine. And how much more glorious the
word from God himself in Solomon's song. This is so. Verse 33, now the men did diligently
observe whether anything would come from him and did hastily
catch it. They were looking for any sign
that this might end well for them. And when he said, he's
my brother, oh, they caught at that, didn't they? They said,
did you hear what he said? and they repeated it back to
him. Do we do that? Do we claim the
promises that God has made to us? He don't need us to remind
him of them. And yet, when you pray, do you
say, Lord, give me grace. You promised to have mercy on
sinners, and I'm a wretch. We remind him of his promises,
though he doesn't need that. I think we need that. We need
that. Oh, they caught at it. And they
said, thy brother have been hated. They repeated what he said. What
claim do we have on any promise from God except that very promise? Notice the word caused. Then
Ben-Hadad came forth to him. He said, go and bring him. Go
bring him. And then Ben-Hadad came forth
to him and he caused him. Picture this. Ahab is in a chariot. He sits in the very instrument
of destruction against the Syrians, and that would be the destruction
of Ben-Hadad, apart from the mercy of God's king. He sits
there in the chariot, but he says to Ben-Hadad, come on up
here. Let's sit together. Boy. And that word caused, what a
beautiful picture this is. We're completely at God's mercy,
and yet he causes us to come up where he is and sit with him. Come now, picture that in your
mind. King Ahab saying, come on, sit
with me in the chariot. And listen to this, come now
and let us reason together. Say it to the Lord. Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as warm. Let's go back for a second to
that word catch. Those who needed mercy, hung
upon the word of the one who alone could give it. They hung
on his word. Is there mercy for us? Let's
listen carefully for any sound of it. Oh Lord, gracious Lord, if the
word mercy falls from your lips, cause us to catch at it. If grace
indeed flows from your mouth, give us grace to position ourselves
in such a way that it falls into our hearts. Make us to hunger
for the bread of life. Make us eager to hear of your
loving kindness and find all of our hope in that promise. Oh, give us grace to catch at
it. Verse 34, and Ben-Hadad said
unto him, the cities which my father took from thy father I'll
restore, and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus
as my father made in Samaria. Ben-Hadad reminds us here of
Zacchaeus, doesn't he? I will restore. He said those
words right there. I will restore. That's what Zacchaeus
said. Everything I've stolen from people,
dishonest wretch, I'm gonna restore fourfold. And then if I have
anything left, I'm gonna give it to the poor. The Lord never
asked Zacchaeus to do that. He never commanded him to do
that in a physical sense. But Zacchaeus is not Zacchaeus
anymore. Not the old Zacchaeus. Something's
different. Something's different. I will
restore. And Ben-Hadad, there's been a
change. I'm gonna make it right. Though,
how are we gonna make it right with God? The Lord Jesus made
it right. But at the same time, we wanna
do what's right by His grace. We want to do what we can, for need or hope of a righteousness
built on that, but because we're a new creation, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. And Ahab said to him, I'll make
a covenant with you. It's all fine and well. that
you want to do these things, that's wonderful. That's good.
It's all fine and well that you want to serve the Lord. I wouldn't
go around popping off about it because our service ain't worth
popping off about. But let's do something for Him,
shall we? Are we just going to say, no, I don't want to do anything
for the Lord? Not interested? Let's do what we can, like that
woman with the alabaster box of ointment. Let's do what we
can. We can only do what we can by His grace. Bless God for that. That's Him doing something for
us, isn't it? Because otherwise, without Him,
we can do nothing. If we can do something, it's
because He did something for us. We ought to delight in that. Think about that, and that should
be important to us. That's great, but here's our
hope. I, the King of Israel, the King
of God's elect, said I'll make a covenant with you. Ben-Hadad's promise here was
commendable. but it's not life. Life is the one who has the power
of life in his hand saying, live. Ahab didn't demand anything from
Ben-Hadad here either. Ahab didn't really need anything. from Ben-Hadad. Ben-Hadad was the needy one.
Can we remember that every day, in every situation? He don't
need anything from us. We need him every hour. But here's mercy now, here's
mercy. That's what the whole thing was about, wasn't it? Maybe
he'll show mercy. Peradventure, there'll be mercy
for us. Here is mercy, a covenant made
by God with us. I will make a covenant with you.
Ordered in all things and sure, David said, and he said, it's all my salvation
and all my desire. although he make it not to grow.
A covenant ratified by the blood of the everlasting covenant,
the precious blood of Christ. We're sent on our way with a
promise from God. And you know what it is? I'll tell you what it ain't.
He made a covenant with him and he sent him on his way. We are
sent on our way with a promise from God. I'll tell you what it ain't.
It ain't if you will, I will. That ain't it. That's a deliberate perversion
of the true covenant, which is beautifully and clearly laid
out in Hebrews 8, 7 through 12. That's the promise that the Lord
sends us on our way with. your sins and your iniquities
while I remember no more. No more. Let's pray.