His kingdom is forever. 1 Kings 22 I read Jeremiah thinking
perhaps that most of you would have read the text 1 Kings 22 I send out a text to everyone
who is able to do so, announcing the message ahead of time. Some of you seem to appreciate
that and enjoy it. If there is anyone who would
like to be included, please let me know. 1 Kings 22, read the
first seven verses with me. 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. And the king of Israel said unto
him, this is Ahab, the king of Israel said unto his servants,
Know ye that Ramoth and Gilead is ours, and we be still, and
we're just sitting here. take it not out of the hand of
the king of Syria? And he said unto Jehoshaphat,
and Ahab was a coward. He's saying this now that Jehoshaphat's
there to help him. Will thou go with me to battle
to Ramoth Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king
of Israel. Jehoshaphat's the king of Judah.
He said, I am as thou art. My people as thy people. My horses
as thy horses. But Jehoshaphat said unto the
king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord
today. And the king of Israel gathered
the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto
them, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I
forbear? And they said, Go up, for the
Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And Jehoshaphat
said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we may
inquire of him? Now that's the subject and that's
the title. Is there not here a prophet of
the Lord? Jehoshaphat heard these fellows. You can see right through these
fellows. And he had no respect whatsoever
for these fellows. All of them were false prophets,
all of them. And he said, is there not here a prophet of the
Lord? Is there not one prophet of the
Lord that we may acquire of Him? Now, occasionally it crosses
my mind, the thought crosses my mind. Are we being too narrow? But I remember the words of our
Lord Himself, who said, Straight is the gate, and narrow is the
way, that leadeth unto life, and few, few there be that find
it. But wide is the gate, broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many. So that tells us clearly
that the majority are growing that broad way, religion, and
few that walk the narrow way. I remind you that when our Lord
ascended, do you know how many people were among their disciples? 120. 120. Thousands, multitudes
followed Him, didn't they? 120 people. You say, but at Pentecost,
thousands. Yes, for a reason. in one time
and in another time, 5,000. Why? For the Church of Jerusalem
was greatly populated at first because when it was persecuted,
it spread out all over the world. And those people went everywhere.
Churches brought up. But comparatively to the general
population all over the world, just a little remnant. A little
remnant. And it's still the same. Things
haven't changed. I read God's Word. That thought
crosses my mind. I read God's Word story after
story like this one. How the truth was hated and the
men who told it were hated. And our Lord Himself said, which
of the prophets had not your fathers killed? Didn't they?
Which one? All of them. All of the apostles. except John, but he was banished
to an island and he died there. But the Lord didn't. The Lord
sure used to do. What about all the martyrs? The truth himself was killed. Right there you have it. Men
don't love the truth. He himself said men love darkness
rather than light. Because the light exposes man's
evil, and they hate it. And our Lord said of His people
in all generations, He said, You shall be hated for my name's
sake, for the truth's sake. The message of false prophets
has always been the same. It's always been the same. Health
and wealth. Prosperity. These fellows we're going to
look at. No evil. No judgment. No punishment of
sin. God's not angry. Peace, peace. That's always been the message
of false prophet to a wicked generation. That's why the people
are like they are. Well, you just read that with
me. That's why the society is like it was and is now. Blame it on the pulpit. They're
not telling the truth. There's no fear of God. before
their eyes, because men are not preaching a God to be feared. The message of God's Word, the
message of true prophets has always been the same. God is
holy. God is just. God will by no means
clear the guilty. God will punish sin. Repent. That's the first message
to a wicked world. Repent, bow, call. John said, who has warned you
to flee from the wrath to come? Cry for mercy. God is merciful. Yes, he is merciful, gracious,
delights to show mercy. Will pardon, but only to the
repentant. To those who are broken, a broken
and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. A heart
broken over sin, not a proud and rebellious heart full of
contempt for the truth. A heart that will not receive
the truth and says, I'm okay. And that's too strict? No, no,
no. God's angry with that. If He doesn't break that heart,
He will destroy it. The message of the Bible, the
message of every true prophet, has always been God is holy,
holy, holy. God is just. God will punish
sin. And God is merciful, but one
way. There's one way. There's one
truth. There's one life. There's one
Lord. There's one faith. There's one
righteousness. There's one way of acceptance
with God. It's not your words. It's not
your morality. It's not your ceremonies. It's
not your abstinence and this and that and the other, it's
Jesus Christ. One way. His righteousness. His blood
shed for the remission of sin. There is no other way. Bow, kiss
the sun, lest it be angry. Paul, in leaving Ephesians, knowing
he was about to be killed for the truth's sake, He said to
the Ephesians that gathered to wish him goodbye, he said, I
cease not to warn you day and night. He said, I preach repentance
toward God, number one, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he said, and I'm telling you now, as soon as I'm gone,
grievous wolves are going to come in. John said that, of your
own selves they rise up. Rome, Roman Catholicism is the
church of Rome. to who Paul wrote, Romans. And every church in the New Testament
is gone. Ephesus, Philippi, Thyatira,
Sardis, Laodicea and so on. Gone. Why? False religion. Idolatry. That's what happened
to Israel. This story here is of one true
prophet. There was more than one. Elijah
was alive right now. The previous chapter, Elijah
just faced Ahab and told him, you and your wife, Jezebel, are
going to be eating my dogs. Elijah just told him that. Another
fellow approached him. So, because at the mouth of two
or three witnesses, this thing is established. But in our story,
in this chapter, there's one true prophet. Seriously? Can all 400 prophets
be wrong and only one fellow be right? Do you read what he said? Well, things are different now.
No, they're worse. They're worse. And you say, no,
they're not worse. I'll tell you why they're worse,
because it's more widespread. As in the days of Noah, our Lord
said, as in the days of Noah, the earth was filled with violence,
the scripture said, and the whole earth had corrupted his way.
When the whole world is overspread with the abomination of desolation,
you know, our Lord said, the end is near. He's at the door.
The evil is the same. Idolatry is the same. No matter
if it's a few or it's many. But when it's all over the world,
it's over. There are 400 prophets saying
the same thing. 400 false prophets all saying
the same thing. They're all in total agreement.
And one man saying something totally different, the exact
opposite of what they were saying. One man was telling the truth
of God about man, the truth that would save them if they'd listen.
They thought he was hateful. They thought the truth was a
message of hate like they do today. No, the message of repentance
is the message that saves you. The message of peace, peace when
there is no peace will damn you. One man was telling the truth
and they all hated him for it. He was their enemy. Like Paul
said, of some, he said, am I to become your enemy for telling
you the truth? No, your best friend is one that
will tell you the truth, even if it hurts you. Well, they all hated this man
for it. Micaiah is his name. Look at verse 1 and 2, it says
that Israel was without war for three years, and the king of
Judah came down to the king of Israel. was a divided kingdom. It began, you know where it began?
Solomon. Why? Why? He married a bunch of women. It turned his heart. And he started
actually sacrificing the false god. Women. That's significant. I'm going
to talk about Jezebel. It's so relevant, so current.
But Solomon started idolatry. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. But he did. And God divided that
kingdom. And God had one tribe. Do you know what tribe it was? Somebody tell me what tribe it
was. Judah. That's where you get the name
Jew. One tribe that the truth remained
in. Every single king of Israel was
a bad man. Evil. Worshiped Baal. Every single
one. Look at that. Every single prophet
was false. Judah had some good men. Judah
had some godly men. Judah had Asa. Judah had Josiah. Judah had Hezekiah. Good men. Godly men. David was a godly
Jew. Judah had some true prophets.
Israel wouldn't hear them, but Judah did. A remnant. Israel,
God's people, were in name only. Israel, they were God's people
in name only, but they were idolaters. Read it for yourself. It says
over in 1 Kings that they worshipped God and their idols. You can't
do that. What a picture of America and
the world today this is, you know. Israel was God's people
in name only, but there was only a remnant according to the election
of grace. Judah, a remnant with the truth,
the true people. And even every one of them was
just a remnant of that remnant. What a picture of America and
the world today. You know that one out of two
Adults in America claims to be a Christian? People? Are you serious? This nation wouldn't be like
it is if that were the case. If 50% of the people worshipped
God, feared God, and knew Christ, and were like Christ, and followed
Christ, loved the truth, this nation wouldn't be like it is. The nation and this world is
corrupt. Our Lord said so. This present
evil world, he called it this present evil world. Peter said,
save yourselves from this untoward generation. A wicked, our Lord
said, a wicked and corrupt and perverse generation. That's what
he called it. full of idolatry, false religion,
the land is full of false prophets, crying peace, peace, when God
is angry with the wicked every day, and his wrath is revealed
from heaven daily. Daily. But they don't see it.
Like Egypt. Like in Egypt, they don't see
the plagues as being the hand of God against evil and wickedness.
But you do. Israel does. God's true Israel
does. The true Jew inwardly, they see these things as being
from the hand of God, the judgment of God. And they repent, they
call on the Lord, they cry for mercy, and they believe the truth
and abide by it. Jehoshaphat came down to the
king of Israel. He shouldn't have. He shouldn't have. He was rebuked
by a couple of men for doing this. You know that? Jehoshaphat
was a believer. Jehoshaphat was a good man. He
was a good king. He was a believer. But he tried
to mingle with bad men. He tried to have some kind of
relationship with Ahab. Look up at verse 25 or chapter
21. There was none like Ahab, which
did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. Now,
what business did Jehoshaphat have with this man? None! Our Lord says, What fellowship
hath light with darkness? How can Christ have come forth
with Baal? But he tried. Stay with me now.
This is good. This is vital. This is relevant.
This is current. This is so necessary. We're right
in the middle of this. But Jehoshaphat tried to mingle
with these fellows, and he was rebuked more than once. One prophet
said, You can't love them that hate your Lord. Well, the prophet
said that. Our Lord, that prophet said it. He's the one that said that.
And the Lord ended up in mercy. He ended up destroying all of
the business dealings that Jehoshaphat had with the son of Ahab. God killed Ahab right before
Jehoshaphat's eye. And he went and had business
with his son. They had a fleet of ships and
God destroyed them all. Jehoshaphat in verse 5. Now,
Jehoshaphat said, he started rethinking what he said to Ahab
about being one with him. He said, wait a minute. Before
we go to battle, we need to ask the Lord. We need to seek the
will of the Lord on this day. Let's just not run before the
Lord. Let's seek the will of the Lord. Let's inquire of the
Lord. Let's pray unto the Lord. And so the king of Israel, Ahab,
he gathered the prophets together. Did he pray? No, he didn't pray.
He got his prophets together. They were going to tell him what
he wanted to hear. He wasn't going to seek the Lord. The Lord's
not going to tell you what you want to hear. He's going to tell you what you
need to hear. He's going to tell you the truth. Paul said, let God be true in
every man. What a liar. Jehoshaphat said, let's inquire
of the Lord. But Ahab said, okay. So he gathered the prophets together.
Four hundred men. Four hundred men. Now, Ahab, as I said, had already
been condemned by two others. He rejected them. Ahab was manipulated
by a woman. He was manipulated by a woman.
Jezebel. Jezebel's running the show. Anybody
that's read the story, you know. Jezebel's running the show. He
was manipulated. The king of Israel was being
run and manipulated by a woman named Jezebel. Now, what's the
significance of that? You want to turn to Revelation
2 with me? Revelation 2, and you tell me if this isn't what's
happening today. The lies of Satan began with
Satan speaking to a woman. Now, ladies, you ladies believe
the truth. You know this is so. You know
that, like Paul said, Adam wasn't deceived in the transgression,
that Eve being deceived. That he went to her, the weaker
vessel, Satan. And his lies began through a
woman. And they've been perpetuated
that way from then on. And the great whore or false
religion is called the great whore. A woman. She's portrayed
as a woman. That beautifies herself and so
on and so forth. Like Jezebel painted her face. Look at Revelation 2 verse 20. The Lord said to Thyatira, I
have few things against thee. See, this duck was creeping into
the church back then. He said, you suck for that woman
Jezebel calls herself a prophet to teach and to seduce my servant
to commit fornication, to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented
not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit
adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent
of their deeds. and I'll kill her children with death." He's talking about false religion
that's led by women, isn't it? The seed of Satan, false
religion, Babylonian religion, is dominated by women. The Scriptures
expressly forbids a woman to speak in the church, does it
not? But now it's accepted by everybody. Now you tell me we're
not in the last of the last days. Verse 6, that Ahab asked these
400 prophets, now where did that come from? He asked these 400
prophets, shall I go unto Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?
And they all said, go up, the Lord shall deliver you into the
hand of the king. Go back to chapter 18. Where
did these 400 prophets come from? Look at this. Chapter 18. Do you remember this story? Does
this sound familiar? Elijah was one man against 450
prophets of Baal, wasn't he? Elijah and Mount Carmel. You
remember? And Elijah said, the God who
answers by fire is the God. Hebrews 12, 29, our God is a
consuming fire. Moses first met God where? at
a burning bush. Inapproachable holy God. That's
how you're going to first know Him. And you're going to fear
Him. You're going to bow to Him. Not this generation. Don't know
anything about a God like that. But these 400 prophets were left
over. Elijah killed all 450 prophets
people. He killed them all. He slew them
all. But there were 400 left. Look
at it. Verse 19. Now therefore send and gather
to me all Israel and the Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal
450 and the prophets of the groves 400 which eat at Jezebel's table. They were in her pocket, Mac.
They were on her payroll. They were living off her. If
you go over to the Revelation, people, and read the story of
the false religion, how that all the world is in bed with
her and lives deliciously because of her and so forth. It's so
clear, if you understand. It's so clear. The world is fathomful. These are prophets of Jezebel's
table, 400 of them, all right? So go back to our text. So Ahab
asked, shall I go? Shall I go? And every one of
them, all 400 of them, he didn't inquire of the Lord, did he?
He inquired of these prophets. And they didn't inquire of the
Lord. Not one of them said, oh Lord, what shall we do? They
didn't pray a prayer. Nobody did. And every one of
them said, go up, the Lord shall deliver. Deliverance. Does that sound familiar? Deliverance. Victory. Later on it said, prosperity.
Health and wealth. It's all good. God loves us. Everything is going to be just
fine. It's all ours. Claim it. You know what happened? You read
with me Jeremiah, another true prophet of the Lord. How many
true prophets were there in Jeremiah? Can you think of one? Can you
think of one? And they gathered against him,
and they smote him, and they put Jeremiah in prison, just
like they did Micaiah in our story. They put him in prison. Jeremiah was hated for the truth,
smitten and afflicted, put in prison like our Lord did. Now,
Jehoshaphat heard these fellows. Jehoshaphat, I think his conscience
is bothering him. I think his conscience is bothering
him that he's there with this Ahabic human. And he hears these
effeminate, fickle, foolish fellows with all their little... He knows
them. And he says, is there not here? a prophet of the Lord beside
me. He doesn't even say beside me. Is there a prophet of the Lord?
Look at this. The King of Israel, verse 8,
said unto Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man, by his own admission, By his own admission, Robin,
there's one man. He had to admit there's one man
that's saying what everybody else is not saying. There's one
man that refuses to go with the flow. There's one man that's
going against the current. There's one man that's insisting
one way, one faith, one Lord, one truth. There's one man. He's
the only one. But I hate him. I hate him. You know why? What does he say? Read it. He doth not prophesy
good concerning me, but evil. He never says anything good about
me. He never says anything good about anybody. Do you mind finding somewhere
in this Bible where God says anything good about man, mankind? Would you find me something?
I'll tell you what God says about man. There's none good, no, not
one. There's none righteous, no, not one. Isaiah 59, there's
none that calleth for truth. There's none that pleadeth. Justice
is turned way backward. Truth calleth in the sleep. He
that departeth from evil makes himself a prey. He's the one
that go after. None. None. None. Over in Isaiah
16, it says, The Lord looked and saw that there was no man,
so he put on righteousness as a breastplate. The Lord Jesus
Christ came down here, because there wasn't one good. He came
to make them good. That prophet, truth, the truth
personified, he came. I hate him. He never says anything
good about me or anyone else. And Jehoshaphat said, don't say
that. Jehoshaphat knew Micaiah. Jehoshaphat
knew Elijah. He loved Elijah and he respected
Elijah. He knew him as the true prophet of God. He said, don't
say that. That's the way he said that. Don't talk about him like
that. He's telling the truth. We need
to hear him. We better call that man. Here's
what Jehoshaphat said. We better call that man. We better
listen to the one man everybody hates. We better listen to the
one man the world rejects. But evidently he's telling the
truth. So they sent and they called
him and verse 9, verse 8, his name is Micaiah. Do you know
what his name means? Micaiah. God's name means something. God named people on purpose. His name is Micaiah and his name
means, who is like Jehovah? There's no other God like Jehovah. Here's the prophet, here's what
he's saying, like Isaiah, to whom will you liken me? To whom
will you compare me? There is no God like this God.
Our God is God, not trying to be God, won't be God if you let
Him be God. He is God. reigning and ruling. There's none like Jehovah. God unlike any other. You know
what holiness means? Unlike anything else. God said, who will you compare
me to? Who is like unto me? Compare
me to someone. He said, there's no other God
beside me. Not even a little G, old Dick.
He said, I declare the end from the beginning. I declare things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand. I shall
do all my good pleasure. I will work, and who's going
to stop me? This is the God of the Bible that men hate. God's people love and worship
and adore and so thankful that He reigns and rules even over
evil. Proverbs 16, 4, the Lord hath
made all things for Himself, even the wicked, for the day
of evil. Oh, they said to Barnard one
day, your God's a monster. Barnard didn't argue with him,
he just said, then prepare to meet a monster. But he's not a monster. Man's
the monster. Man's the rebel against his Creator.
Man's the unthankful rebel, the rebellious creature. Man, God
ought to destroy the whole lot. Rich in mercy. He doesn't love
everybody, but he sure loves some people. Amazingly. Undeservedly. Look at verse 10. It says that
they called him, verse 9, and hastened hither Micaiah the son
of Imlah. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of
Jews, sat each on his throne. having put on their robes in
a void place. I can never laugh at that. They
got on their robes and they put on a show in this void place,
a vanity, empty, this empty hall of judgment. And all these prophets
got together before them, just like those prophets of Baal back
on Mount Carmel. And they started prophesying.
They had what we would call, what religion would call today,
a great big city-wide revival. They did, and they started prophesying
and had a big shindig, and no doubt there was lots of entertainment
going on. God's not in that, is he? That's like Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. Remember the story of them? Three
Hebrews, out of all the people on earth, besides Daniel, three
Hebrews, And Nebuchadnezzar said, everybody's going to join together. We're all going to bow before
the image, and we're all going to get together. We're going
to hear the psaltery and the dulcimer and the drums and the
cymbals. We'll have a big band, and everybody's
going to have a big hoedown, a big religious hoedown. Now,
you better be with us, or we're going to throw you in the burning
fiery furnace. And all three of those fellows said, we don't
have to think about it for a minute. We're not going to be with you.
We won't be there. We'd rather be in the burning, fiery, burning
fiery furnace, didn't be in the midst of that. That's hell on
earth. False religion. And they did. They threw them
in the fiery furnace. You know the end of that story.
You know who was destroyed and who wasn't. Well, what happened here in our
story? Well, they had their big Hold
down, and the messenger was gone to call Micaiah, verse 13. The
messenger went to call him, and he said, he found him, and he
said, now, look at this, verse 13, read it with me. Behold now,
this messenger said to the prophet, the words of the prophets are
good unto the king. And what, they all agree, everything's
good. God loves us, Jesus died for us, everything's just fine.
And let your words be like them. Don't rock the boat. Is that what he said? What Micaiah
said? As the Lord liveth, what the
Lord saith unto me. That's what I'll speak. That's
what I'm going to say. Back when I worked on the railroad,
some of you have heard this story, but when I worked on the railroad
years ago, back in the 70s, They had a meeting every Friday
at lunchtime, a religious, somebody would come and so-called preach.
And I would go to it. I would listen to it. I didn't want them to think I
was a complete heathen. But I would go and listen to it. They were
all bad. OK? Well, one of the fellows
that was in charge of that came up to me, and we'd talked before
about the truth, about the gospel. And he was this little fellow.
He didn't stand for anything, but he knew my dad and so forth. This was before I'd ever preached
a message. And he said, do you have somebody
to come preach to us? I said, oh, yeah. I sure do. He said, well, have him come
next Friday at lunchtime. I said, OK. Be glad to. And I darkened Pruitt. If you
think he's fiery now, you should have heard him then. He was a
full-time carpenter. Hands like by-scripts. And buddy,
they preached. They called James and John the
sons of thunder. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
called them. Beware me, Jesus! Sons of thunder! Meaning, what
the Word of the Lord thundered from their mouth. They preached
as one having authority, not like the scribes. That's who Peter wanted us to
do, wasn't it? Simon Peter didn't follow a feminine little fella.
He followed the Lord. The man that said, you drop everything
and you follow me. And he did. A man of authority.
Not meanly amount. He said about John, what did
you go out to see? What did you go out to see? A
reed shaking with the wind? I'm telling you, a prophet. You
better listen to it. Dressed in leather and a girdle.
A leather girdle and camel hair. Well, anyway. So I got Brother
Darwin, he's coming. And the closer it got to Friday,
the more afraid that fellow got. He knew. I'd talked to him in
my limited capacity about the truth. And he came up to me about
Wednesday. He said, now, just what this
fellow said. He said, now, Paul, tell this
man who's coming, don't preach any doctrine. Just preach Jesus. Don't preach doctrine, just preach
Jesus. I told Irvin that. And you know what he preached
from? Here's his text. In 2 John, verse
9, Whosoever transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of
Christ, hath not God. He that abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he's both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you, bring not this doctrine. Receive him not into your house,
and don't say, God bless you. And he preached with authority.
And every one of those men but one was gritting their teeth. I was gritting. They were gritting. It's totally true. And that's what this fella said
to Micaiah. And Micaiah said, I'm going to tell what the Lord
said. They said to Elijah, Ahab said
this to Elijah before this. He said, Elijah came and there was a drought because
of their idolatry. The world, the nation was under
the judgment of God and they didn't know it. They weren't
repenting of it because of their idolatry. And Elijah came, and
Ahab said, you know what Ahab said of Elijah? Are you he that
troubled Israel? Are you the one that's troubling
Israel? And Elijah said, I'm not troubling Israel. You are.
Israel's in trouble. I'm not troubling Israel. I'm
trying to tell them they're in trouble. I'm trying to tell them
the message that'll get them out of trouble. I'm trying to
tell them if they'll repent and call on God, He'll deliver them
out of all their troubles. And religion isn't the answer
today. It's the trouble. It's the problem. Are you hearing the trouble with
Israel? No. The best friend Israel ever had. So he came to the king, verse
15, and the king said unto him, he had said unto Micaiah, shall
we go against Ramoth Gilead in the battle, or shall we forbear?
And Micaiah mocks him. He knows he's not going to hear
what he said. He knows he's not going to do what he said. And
he's going to tell him what he wants to hear. He's mocking him.
God's not mocked. But God mocks men. You know that? God mocks men. He sent lying
prophets in the last... If you read this, God sent lying
prophets to these people. And that's what the scripture
said. He said, I'll choose their delusions. Because they receive
not the love of the truth, God shall send them strong delusions
that they'll believe a lie. He hides these things from the
wise and the prudent, and reveals them unto whom he will, and reveals
them unto man. And Micaiah mocked him and said,
Go and prosper. Go on. The Lord delivered it
into your hand. The king said, how many times,
verse 60, how many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell
me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?
And Micaiah said, I saw Israel scattered upon the hill, and
sheep that had not a shepherd. The Lord said, they have no master.
Let them return every man to his house in peace. What he's
saying is, you're going to die. Same thing that Elijah said,
because all of God's prophets say the same thing. It's not
what men want to hear. It's not good news to the natural,
unregenerate man. It's not good news at all. It's
only good news to the repentant. And Ahab said in verse 18 to
Jehoshaphat, didn't I tell you? I told you. I told you he'd prophesy
no good concerning me but evil. Where's the gospel in all this,
preacher? Anybody asking that? This is the word of the Lord,
isn't it? Am I not being faithful? Yeah.
Well, here's the gospel right here. Verse 19. Here's what Micaiah
said. Hear thou therefore the word
of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his
throne. and all the hosts of heaven standing
by him on his right hand and on his left. Is that not what
Simon Peter preached at Pentecost? Hear ye the word of the Lord,
ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, the
man approved of God, God hath exalted him, put him at the right
hand of the majesty on high. You who with wicked hands have
taken and crucified the Lord of glory, God has highly exalted
him, giving him a name above every name. that in the name
of Jesus Christ every knee should bow and every tongue should pray. As Paul said in Hebrews, he said
that the Lord, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And even God
says of his son, Thy throne, O God, is forever. We don't preach
a poor, weak, Helpless Jesus who wants to and can, who tries
and fails and wants everybody so badly to be saved. We preach
a victorious, sovereign Lord, seated on the throne. His work
is finished. He's seated, expecting His enemies
to be made His footstool. Sending the Holy Spirit to gather
every single one for whom He died. Every single one that God
gave Him in that covenant of grace before the world began.
Every single one who has the blood applied upon them. Sends
the Holy Spirit to the preaching of the gospel, and they will
come. They all will come, and all who come will in no wise
be cast out. They're in the kingdom, because
he's Lord. That's the gospel. And anything
less than that is not the gospel. It's a false gospel. And he's
a false prophet that tells it. Though the world is full of them,
though they all agree, like the scripture says, though hand join
in hand, They all get together, hand joined in hand. Our Lord
said they will not go unpunished. Truth is not truth because men
say so. Truth is truth because God says
so. And though every man, most every man is a liar, let
God be true. Let it be known that God is true. David even said that, didn't
he? He said, I said in my haste.
I said in my haste, all men are liars. All men aren't liars.
God's men aren't liars. David wasn't a liar. Nathan wasn't
a liar, was he? No, he wasn't a liar. But he
said he looked around and tried to find somebody to tell the
truth. And he said, I said in my haste, they're all liars.
Nobody's telling the truth. Full of deceit and lies. The
world's full of it. But there's a remnant. God's
not left himself without a witness. And they, not just the man, not
just one man, but those people who believe the truth or are
witnesses themselves, they go out preaching and declaring this
truth. And they themselves are hated
for it. And they are alone wherever they go, wherever they work,
amongst the people they work with. Amongst the people they
have to meet with. They feel all alone. Like Enoch,
they walk with God. But it's against the world. Like Noah, who prepared that
ark. And by it, he condemned the world. And yet, in condemning the world,
he's telling them there's only one way to not be condemned.
One way. Get in the ark. That's too narrow,
I know. That's too narrow. God's not
like that. Yes, He is. And you're going to find out. Have I told you the truth? I'm
just reading the Word. I'm afraid no one. Micaiah. Who's
like Jehovah? Stand with me. Our Lord and our God, now we
thank You. Thou hast not left us to ourselves
or left us to the God of this world who leads captive men,
but You have taken captivity captive. It's like Israel of
old, Lord. You look down. You came down to deliver us out,
to bring us up into Thy land, into Thy kingdom. O Lord, thank
You. Thank You for Thy truth. The
truth makes us free. The truth delivers us, truly
delivers us from the God of this world, the things
of this world, the people of this world. O Lord, thank You
for Thy truth. Thank You for Your Word. Thank
You, O Lord. Tell us the truth, though it
goes against our flesh. Men love it not. O Lord, we love
Thy truth. We love Thy Word. We love it.
We thank You for it. You've given us a love for it.
And we justify You, O Lord. We justify You. Thou art just
in everything You do and everything You say. You're right. You're
true. We're wrong. We're false. Righteousness belongeth
unto the Lord. To us belongeth confusion of
faces. And oh Lord, you have revealed yourself to us and our
children. We thank you. We thank you so much. Continue
to do so. Open eyes and ears of others
in this community. Bring them in to your kingdom,
we pray, for thy honor and thy glory, and for their salvation,
for their good. We pray these things in the name above every
name, Jesus Christ, amen. There you go.