I'm going to spend most of my
time in the first chapter of 2 Kings, but I wanted that read
about the death of King Ahab. What we're going to talk about
this evening is the life and the death of the next king of
Israel, Ahaziah. He was the son of Ahab. We read how that the Lord took
out his vengeance upon King Ahab. He was a godless rebel who worshipped
idols and he led Israel deeper into idolatry. This is a man who had no concern
for the glory of God. He had no love for the gospel
of grace. Every One of God's prophets in
the Old Testament up to this point, and even throughout the
Old Testament, of course, they all spoke of the Lord Jesus.
They all said the seed of the woman is coming into the world
and He'll crush the head of the serpent and He will save His
people. And yet Ahab, the leader of Israel,
Ahab, the man to whom most people looked up to. They esteemed him. They idolized him even. Yet he
despised God. He despised the way of grace.
He led Israel deeper and deeper into idolatry. And then finally
God, as it were, had his feel of him and he destroyed him. And as I said, when this king
died, his son Ahaziah ruled in his stead in the northern kingdom,
in the capital city of Samaria. And he ruled two years. Look
at the last three verses of the 22nd chapter of 1 Kings. 1 Kings 22. Verse 51, Ahaziah, the son of
Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, the seventeenth year
of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned two years over
Israel. And you'll remember from your
study of Jewish history that, of course, the kingdom has been
divided way before this. And this man Ahab and then his
son Ahaziah, they ruled over the northern kingdom, over the
northern empire. Whereas Jehoshaphat, who was
the king of Judah of course, he reigned in Jerusalem over
the southern kingdom. Now as concerning Ahaziah, look
at the 52nd verse. And he did evil in the sight
of the Lord. And he walked in the way of his
father, Ahab, and in the way of his mother Jezebel, and in
the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to
sin. For he served Baal, and worshipped
him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according
to all that his father had done has learned a valuable spiritual
lesson right here. Unless God regenerates a dead
sinner, unless God reveals the gospel to one who is alienated
from him, a man's heart will remain unrepentant and unmoved
even by judgments which happen all around him. You take this
man Ahaziah. He saw three and a half years
of famine. Elijah said it's not going to
rain three and a half years, and it didn't rain for three
and a half years. He was an eyewitness to that. Moreover, there's a
good possibility that when Elijah squared off against the prophets
of Baal and the prophets of the groves, 451 and 400 of the other,
and Elijah spoke to God, fire fell from heaven and devoured
the sacrifice, and the stones and the wood licked up the dust
and all the water, this man knew about it. This is a man who Though
if he wasn't there, he certainly knew about how God killed his
father because this bowman took an arrow, shot it at a venture. He wasn't aiming at anything
particular. They had sought to kill a man
who was dressed in royal garments, but it was Jehoshaphat, the king
of the southern kingdom. And Jehoshaphat said, don't shoot.
It's me. I'm not the man you're looking
for. The man that they were looking for was disguised. All the armies
said, well, we know what the king said. We know what King
Ben-Hadad said. He said, don't fool with soldiers
both low and high. Go for the king. We can't find
the king. Let's all go home. And one soldier
said, OK, but I take four. I'm going to shoot one arrow
anyway. And he just pulled an arrow out, and he shot it. He
said, let's go home, boys. An arrow flew by the providence
of God. It hit right between the harness
of King Ahab, and he was fatally wounded. Ahaziah, he knew his
father had died just as the prophet Micaiah said he would. And yet, though he had so much
information, and though he was an eyewitness to these judgments
of God, He remained unrepentant, unwilling to bow to the God of
Israel. He despised the way of grace,
the way of salvation by substitute. by the satisfactory substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus. He despised the ways of God. He persisted in his rebellion. The scripture says he served
Baal and he worshipped him. He continued to be a rebel against
God. All of the warnings that he had
observed All of the warnings that he had heard had no effect
on his heart. You see, unless God does something
for us, we'll stay just dead in trespasses and sins. If you
want to see an evidence of just how vile and wicked and wretched
and dead that we are, Men read the Word of God. They
read the warnings of God. They also read of the beauties
of salvation in the Lord Jesus. They read of salvation by grace
alone. For by grace he is saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Men read of grace. They read
of blood. They read of the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. They read of that salvation purposed
of God, that salvation that our Lord Jesus has Himself purchased
with His blood. They read of salvation by God's
power and yet still remain defiant against God. They still persist
in their rebellion, in their blindness, in their ignorance,
in their deafness. Is that not an evidence of man's
depravity? Our Lord said in the book of
Revelation, He said He is going to pour out
all these plagues upon men and yet they are not going to repent
and give God glory. You see, no one will come to
Jesus Christ and find in Him life and forgiveness and righteousness
except those who were made alive by the Spirit of grace. And the
only reason that you and I have good sense tonight in believing
the gospel The only reason that we bow to Jesus Christ and worship
Him and adore Him and love to hear of Him crucified, buried,
risen again, love to hear of His blood, love to hear of His
righteousness, love to hear of salvation by grace, the only
reason is due to God's effectual, omnipotent grace at work in our
hearts. If God left us to ourselves,
we'd be just like Ahaziah. All of the warnings would fall
on deaf ears. This man Ahaziah, like all other
men, was at enmity against God, despised the way of God. He served
Baal. He worshipped him. He worshipped
Baal. And provoked to anger the Lord
God of Israel, just like his father Ahab had done. Ahaziah worshipped and served
Baal, the Lord of the Flies. Just a dunghill God. And I'll tell you, If we don't
worship God in spirit and in truth, if we don't worship Him
through the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever it is that we worship,
here's what it is, a dung-heeled God. I level this accusation, I level
this charge against all religions of the world. They worship dung-heeled
gods. There was a time when you did
and I did as well. Thank God He invaded our hearts. Thank God He didn't wait for
us to do something for Him. He did something for us. He said,
I'm not going to leave you to die in your sins. I'm going to
raise you up. I'm going to establish you in
the gospel. I'm going to set your feet upon
the rock, Christ Jesus. I will not take no for an answer
from you. Aren't you glad God took that
approach toward you? He didn't leave you where He
found you. though he could have, and justice would have been done
if it had done that. Is there anybody here tonight
who would stand and defend King Ahab? No. He received visit after
visit from one of God's inspired prophets, Elijah. This is a man
who is confronted by God's servants, and he would not hear the Word
of God. And that which God did to him,
that man fully deserved. And if any of us die unrepentant,
die in unbelief, refusing to believe this glorious gospel
of grace, the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we
die in our sins, justice will be served and we'll get what
we deserve. Oh God, let us flee to Christ
Jesus for mercy. Oh, for mercy. Lord, don't leave
me. Don't leave me as I am by nature. Lord, don't leave me as a worshipper
of idols. Lord, don't leave me as one who
serves Baal. Lord, don't leave me in my ignorance. Lord, don't leave me in the hardness
of my heart. Oh God Almighty, show me mercy
for Christ's sake. That's what I pray for myself
and that's what I pray for you. You see, the Lord our God is
a jealous God. Jealous of His truth. Jealous
of His honor. Jealous of His glory. And whenever
someone worships another God, little g, God's wrath is kindled
against them. What a travesty of the divine
character is set forth in all religions today except the religion
of God. Men demean God. Men bringing
God down. Bringing God the Father down.
Bringing God the Son down. Bringing God the Holy Spirit
down. It's a mercy from God that He
doesn't open up the very pit of hell and swallow the whole
earth at one time. As a whole, we've turned our
back on God. We've been rebellious against
Him. We put our fist in His face and we said, we're not going
to have this man reign over us. Oh, the restraining mercies of
God. that He hadn't cast us into hell
a long time ago. Hmm. Ahaziah, in the hardness of his
heart, worshipped idols. Look at chapter 2, verse 1. I'm sorry. 2 Kings chapter 1
verse 1. I'll get it right. 2 Kings chapter
1 verse 1. Just continuing on down there.
Verse 1. And Moab rebelled against Israel
after the death of Ahab. Now, don't miss the connection. Don't miss the connection. The
last verse of chapter 22 of 1 Kings is the cause. The first verse of 2 Kings chapter
1 is the effect. You say, what do you mean? Well,
for many years, Moab had been a tributary to Israel. But now Moab throws off the yoke. Israel had enjoyed receiving
lots of goods from Moab. But now that's finished. God
cuts it off. God cuts off those supplies.
And the reason He did it was because of what Ahaziah did. He provoked the Lord to wrath.
Remember this. We're thankful for the chapter
divisions. We're thankful for the different
books of the Bible. But as we get to the last verse
of 1 Kings and then the first verse of 2 Kings, there is a
connection because the word then connects it. Then, here's a man
who provoked the Lord to anger, and here's the result. Then,
the Lord moved upon the king of Moab to say, you know what? We cut off all this stuff. We're
not going to serve you anymore. And all those things that Israel
trusted in, the riches that they relied upon, they said, hey,
we're okay. We got all that stuff coming
in from Moab. And the Lord moved upon the heart
of the king of Moab, who was himself a vile man. But remember,
the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of
water, and he turns it with us soever he will. And the Lord
God moved upon the heart of the king of Moab, and he said, you
know what? Now that King Ahab is dead, I'm
not going to send him anything else. In fact, look over at chapter
3. Chapter 3, look at verse 4. Here's
an explanation of it. Chapter 3, verse 4, And Meshach,
who was the king of Moab, he was a sheep master. And he rendered
unto the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred
thousand rams with wool. But it came to pass when Ahab
was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of
Israel. He said, I'm cutting it off. I'm stopping it. I'm
stopping it. You see, God is displeased. God has been dishonored. So He
dries up all this tribute that Israel had been receiving from
Moab. Oh brethren, now listen. Listen. Let us have no other confidence
than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And if we have some kind of confidence
anywhere else, oh God, dry it up. Cut off all that Moab gives
us. If we're relying upon anything
or anybody else, oh God, cut it off. We might be driven to
you alone and find our rest and our hope and our trust and our
confidence in Christ Jesus and none other but Him. Go back to chapter 1. Well, this king Ahaziah, he didn't
turn to the Lord for guidance and help. He didn't humble himself
before God. He didn't inquire of the Lord. He didn't say, Lord, why this
disruption to our tribute, to our income? No. God removed the provisions received
by Israel from the Moabites, but that didn't have a good effect
upon the king either. That didn't humble him before
God. He didn't say, oh God, what have I done to bring all this
upon my nation? No, not at all. So, the second
verse of chapter one. And Ahaziah fell down through
a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria and was sick. He's out walking one day up on
the roof. And maybe like, and I don't know
this for a fact, but maybe like King Nebuchadnezzar admiring
his great city of Samaria and all that he ruled over. He's
up there walking and he fell through. fell through and he
was so severely injured that then he got some sort of infection. He became sick. He became sick. And when God put him on his sickbed,
he still didn't inquire of the Lord. Now this fall wasn't immediately
fatal, but it will be. But still, he has no thoughts
of God. It didn't shake him up. He didn't
say, oh my, if I'd have died from this fall, I'd have perished
in my sin. He didn't say, I'd be cut off
from God forever. Oh God, would you help me? Oh
God, would you? Lord, send me your preacher.
That he might tell me the story again. That he might tell me
of the sacrificial lamb. No. Nope, not this man. And the natural
man will never do that. Notwithstanding these physical
judgments that God sends, all of these warnings that God sends
our way, the natural man will never call upon God unless God
calls upon him first. So he brought his messengers
in and he said, this is what I want you to do, latter part
of verse 2. Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall
recover from this disease. I want you to go over to the
fly god, the lord of the flies god. And I want you to ask him
as to whether I am going to recover or not. Go to a dead idol. and ask Him if I'm going to come
back from this. Verse 3, But the angel of the
Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers
of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because
there is not a God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal-zebub,
the god of Ekron? Isn't there a God in Israel?
What about the God that our fathers worshipped? The God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob? Will you not call on Him? But
instead you send over to a heathen empire, over to the Philistines
who have been our enemies, and you are going to ask their God
if you are going to recover or not? Verse 4, Now therefore, thus
saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from
that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And he allowed you to party. And when the messengers, when
they turned back unto him, he said to them, why are you now
turned back? See, they are on their way to go to ask this God
if the king is going to be okay. And Elijah meets him. Elijah
says, you go back and tell the king, you're going to die. Well, they don't even go on to
Ekron. They just go right on back to
the king. So the king says, how come you're back so quick? Now,
that was a fast journey. And they said unto him, verse
6, there came a man up to meet us and said, go, Turn again unto
the King that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord,
Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that thou sendest
to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore thou
shalt not come down from thy bed on which thou art gone up,
but shalt surely die. Be said to them, What did that
man look like? What manner of man was he? which
came up to meet you and told you these words. They said, well,
he was a hairy man. And he had a leather belt or
girdle about his loins. He said, Elijah the Tishbite. That's who it is. And then the
king sent unto him a captain of 50 with his 50. He called
the captain to him. He said, take your 50 best soldiers. and went up to him. And Elijah was sitting up on
top of the hill. He is not disturbed. He is not
worried. And this captain of the 50 said,
Thou man of God? The king said, Come down. He wants to see you right now.
And Elijah answered and said to the captain of the 50, If
I be a man of God, and this man had said, you are a man of God,
but he said it in a mocking way. Elijah said, if I be a man of
God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee
and thy fifty, and there came down fire from heaven and consumed
him and his fifty. Killed 51 men right there. Word got back to the king what
happened. Verse 11, again also he sent unto him another captain
of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto
him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, come down quickly,
right now, right now. And Elijah answered and said
unto him, if I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven
and consume thee and thy fifty. The fire of God came down from
heaven and consumed him and his 50. Judgment of God. Wrath. Verse 13, He sent again a captain
of the third 50 with his 50. Why, if I was that guy, I'd be
hesitant for this job, wouldn't you? But look at his attitude. The
third captain of 50 went up and he came and he fell on his knees
before Elijah. There's no contempt here. There's
no ill will here. And besought him and said unto
him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life And the life of these
fifty thy servants be precious in thy sight." He says, Behold
there came down fire from heaven and burnt up the two captains
of the former fifties with their fifties. And you know what? He
doesn't argue. He doesn't say you shouldn't
have done that. He justified God in God's condemnation
of those men. And I'll tell you, we're going
to do that too. We're going to say like David, you're right when
you judge. This man's got no quarrel. He's got no quarrel. He throws himself on the mercy
of Elijah. Let's us do that. Let's throw
ourselves upon the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Others have
been smitten down by the wrath of God. I don't quarrel with
God about that, do you? I say you're just when you judge. And Lord, I'm from the same group
of people. I'm just like those two 51 groups
before me. The first 51 group, the captain
in the 50, and the second group, the captain in that 50. I'm just
like them. And I'm not fussing about your
justice, but I bow before you. May my life be precious in your
sight. Show me mercy for Christ's sake.
Am I speaking to somebody tonight? God's made you to realize your
guilt before him? Fall down and sue for mercy.
What else can you do? What else can you do before this
one who holds your breath in his hands? This one who has the
fire to consume. This is the same fire that consumed
these two groups. That was the same fire that licked
up the dust and the water and the stones and the wood and the
sacrifice that Elijah had offered back in chapter 18. It absolutely
consumed the sacrifice. Thank God there is one sacrifice
that that fire did not consume. That's the sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That fire didn't consume Him.
He consumed the sacrifice. Or He consumed the fire rather.
He consumed the justice of God. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Judgment has been poured out
upon the Son of God for all of His elect. There is no more judgment.
There is no more fire from heaven for us. The fire has fallen upon
a suitable lamb, a suitable victim. No fire for us. And like this
poor man right here, we fall down before Him and say, let
my life be precious in Thy sight. I tell you what, the lives of
His elect, they are precious to Him. That's right, we're precious
to Him. Why, He chose us in grace. He
created this world. as a stage whereupon he will
bring to pass the great drama of redemption. We're precious
to him. We're his children. We're his
jewels. He sent his darling son into
this world to redeem us, to save us, to buy us, to take our sin
dead and cast it away. He paid it in full. He sent the
gospel to us. the gospel of His grace through
some preacher who preached the Word of God to us. And miraculously
and mysteriously, He worked a work of grace in our hearts and brought
us to believe Him. We are precious in His sight.
We are His jewels. And someday He is going to gather
all of His jewels unto Himself. This man said, let my life and
the life of these men be precious in your sight. Well, I'll tell
you what, The lives of God's children are precious in His
sight. Precious to Him. Look at verse
15. And the angel of the Lord said
to Elijah, go down with him. The angel of
the Lord Now the angel of the Lord had spoken to Elijah back
in the third verse, and the angel of the Lord speaks to him again
here. Who is this? Why, this is the angel of the
covenant. This is the messenger of the covenant. This is our
Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the Son of God in pre-incarnate
form. And he says to Elijah, go down
with him. Don't be afraid of him. Don't be afraid of that king.
He can't hurt you. My friends, if the Lord is with
us, I tell you, no need to fear anything. We have His promise
that He will always abide with us. He defends us. He fought for us at Calvary.
And all of our enemies He defeated. You don't have anything to fear.
You don't have anybody to fear. The Lord said, don't be afraid
of the king. And he arose, went down to see the king. And he
said unto him, thus saith the Lord, forasmuch as thou hast
sent messengers to inquire of Baal, Zebub, the god of Ekron,
is it not because there is no god in Israel to inquire of his
word? Therefore thou shalt not come
down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely
die. And, verse 17 says, so Ahaziah,
so he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had
spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead
in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king
of Judah, because he had no son. How the rest of the acts of Ahaziah,
which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Israel?" He came to a sad end. A sad end. I think of the widow
of Zarephath. God's servant, Elijah, had a
message of mercy for her. But no message of mercy for this
man. Oh, Lord. Here's my closing thought
of the message here. Oh, Lord. I know what we deserve. We deserve your wrath. that we
cast ourselves at your throne of grace, we fall on our faces
before you, and we say, Lord, if you will, if you will, you
can show us mercy. God, help us take that attitude,
take that arrogance, that cocky spirit away from us. that haughtiness,
that pride, it will lead to our destruction. Lord, bring us low. Lord, let our lives be precious
in Thy sight. See the blood, see the righteousness
of Your Son, and receive us. For the glory of Your grace,
Lord, we pray. Amen. Let's sing the closing
song. What is it there, Joe? Number
125, Jesus paid it all.