So we're in 1 Kings chapter 21 and reading from verse 1. And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, hired by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.

And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would eat no bread.

But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, Because I speak unto Naboth the Jezreelite. And said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money, or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.

And Jezebel, his wife, said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people, and set two men, sons of Belial, before him to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king, and then carry him out and stone him, that he may die. And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles, who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high among the people.

And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him. And the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned and is dead.

It came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead. It came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he has gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed also Hast thou killed and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Basha the son of Ahijah.

For the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

But there was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work the wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things, as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

And it came to pass, when Ahab heard these words, that he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.

Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

Naboth was an inhabitant of Jezreel, a city in Israel, and he owned a small piece of land close to one of Ahab's residencies. Now it's possible that Naboth was one of the 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. It certainly seems in this country where Baal was now openly worshipped that Naboth was a worshipper or at least a respecter of the one true God.

Naboth used the land that he owned as a vineyard. Ahab wanted to use it for a herb garden and he offered to buy the land or swap it for something better. But Naboth was not free to sell. The Lord had placed restrictions on the sale of land when Israel had come into Canaan. And as a follower of the Lord, Naboth took seriously the law against selling one's family inheritance. And he told Ahab that the land was not for sale.

The rebuff upset Ahab. And Jezebel, his wife, noticed how despondent Ahab had become, and she determined that she would get the land for him. So she told him that he was king and he could do whatever he wanted. And no doubt with Ahab's knowledge, she concocted a scheme to have Naboth killed.

She wrote letters to the leaders of Jezreel, instructing them to arrest Naboth and have him accused of blasphemy against God and treachery against the king. This double charge ensured both that Naboth was stoned to death for blasphemy and for treason, his property which was what this was all about, his property would be confiscated by the crown, which meant that it would be appropriated by Ahab. It would fall into Ahab's hand.

False accusers were recruited and Naboth was brought to court. He was brought to trial. He was found guilty. It seems without any opportunity to defend himself. The accusations were made and the judges pronounced him guilty. He was at once taken and stoned. Stoned to death.

It actually seems likely from another passage that He wasn't alone at this time when he was stoned to death, but that his family, at least his sons, were slain with him at the same time. And this devious and deceitful couple, Ahab and Jezebel, with the complicity of corrupt city leaders and false witnesses, had Naboth and his family killed, so Ahab could have a herb garden. And when that dirty deed was done, Jezebel told Ahab to go and take his prize. The wicked couple thought that they could do as they pleased with no one standing in their way. They thought themselves above the law. Anyone who resisted would simply be removed. However, they did not take the Lord into consideration.

Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 6, The Lord knew exactly what Ahab and Jezebel had done, and he was preparing to make them an example of his judgment. The Lord spoke again to Elijah, Elijah the Tishbite. Now we have not heard of Elijah for a while. The Lord had used others, other prophets over the period of the battles with Syria, which is now several years. But on this occasion he told Elijah that he was to go to Naboth's vineyard and confront Ahab. He was to inform him of God's judgment against him.

Ahab had chosen to work evil and his evil would be recompensed upon him. He and his sons, all 70 of them, would be cut off. His posterity would be cut off so that his family would be brought to an abrupt end. Jezebel, his wicked wife, would be slain. Her body would be eaten by dogs. Ahab's family would be wiped out as a testimony to God's wrath. And this most wicked of kings, despite many openings to hearken to the Lord, had settled his final destiny and condemned himself and his family to hell.

Now let us consider some lessons that we have from this passage. The first one I want to draw to your attention is the wickedness of fallen nature. I often speak about our corrupt human nature and I do so because that is how the Bible presents our natural state, our natural condition before God. God is holy and we are unholy. And these Old Testament passages, they don't sanitize the wicked activities of the kings and queens and leaders of the nation Israel, or the immoral actions of individuals. The Bible tells it exactly as it is.

And for thousands of years, men and women have been indulging sin, committing crimes and using their power to exploit the poor and the weak and the helpless. And not much has changed. Naboth wasn't looking for trouble. His misfortune was to possess a piece of ground that a rich, powerful man coveted. a man willing to kill to get what he wanted. Jezebel used the power of the crown to stage a mock emergency. She enlisted corrupt officials and shameless liars. She exploited the people's religious sentiments by declaring a fast and under the pretext of mock piety executed by stoning an innocent man and his sons. Terrible, right?

But here's the thing, that fallen nature, that fallen human nature of which we speak is common to us all. And you might think, I would never act in this way. Really? Don't you know that your nature is the same as Ahab's nature and Jezebel's nature? It is the same as the corrupt city leaders and the false witnesses. It's the same as the hypocritical pastors and the stone-throwing executioners. We all are drawn from the same mass of fallen nature and fallen humanity. And the truth is, we all are capable of exactly the same crimes as any other and as these Bible narratives describe. Don't ever underestimate your capacity to sin and to do wrong. Sin lies at the door for us all. When we read of such iniquity or hear of modern equivalents, modern evils, use what we read, use what we hear, use these examples to think about how merciful the Lord Jesus has been to come into this world to save sinners like us from our sin.

How easy it would have been for the Lord to damn us all and begin again if he had wanted to do that. But how much he must have loved us to have come, rather, and died to deliver such sinful wretches from such notorious crimes, to take our place, to redeem, pardon, and give us a new nature, a holy nature, fit for glory. What matchless condescension on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is another lesson from this passage. God knows. God knows and righteousness will prevail. We read together, Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy? As Ahab walked around his new garden, planning what he would do over there and what he would do over here, Elijah unexpectedly appeared. And I'm sure that Ahab's conscience smote him. It was clear that God knew and Elijah knew what he had done.

The Lord allowed Jezebel's conspiracy against Naboth to run its course. He didn't deliver Naboth or his sons. He did not silence the false witnesses or expose the corrupt magistrates. Naboth's blood was spilled and If he was one of the lords for whom Christ died, which I trust he was, he was taken home to glory.

But we may be sure that his murderers each had their reckoning. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Do not think that you can outrun God. Do not imagine that he does not see. Do not think that there is no record being kept. In the earliest times, Moses wrote, be sure your sin will find you out. Our only hope is that Christ himself has taken our sin and carried it in his own body as his own sin. Our only hope is God's mercy.

And this brings me to our final lesson today. God's mercy is foreshadowed in this account of Ahab. When Ahab heard his judgment from Elijah and understood his fate, he was stricken with guilt and fear. And this is what we read, he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly.

He went softly. It's a lovely phrase that I do like it. It means that he went as one that mourned and grieved. He trembled. as well he might at the terror of the punishment that lay ahead for his wickedness and idolatry. And well might men and women tremble at the prospect of hell and eternal punishment and separation from God.

But here's something interesting happened. God who saw Ahab's sin also saw his languishing and his sorrow. Perhaps we might say repentance, but it was not repentance unto salvation. We've no cause to believe that Ahab found forgiveness with the Lord. He was sad, he was sorrowful, but he had no true repentance and he found no forgiveness.

However, he did receive some temporary respite. The Lord chose not to bring about the death of his wife and children until after Ahab himself had died. He said, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house. And we might wonder why the Lord took this approach.

I think we might say this. Ahab was still king. His actions, good or bad, were public actions, and they were witnessed by many in the country, both his sin and his sorrow. By delaying this judgment and by recording it here in the book of Kings, the Lord was indicating to the people that while he would certainly judge sin, he could also be merciful. He was giving hope to sinners.

And this is how we should interpret these passages. Ahab did not cease from his idolatry. As far as we can tell, he died a guilty sinner before God. However, the Lord's patience gives hope to you and me that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God hath raised him from the dead, we shall be saved.

The psalmist says in Psalm 130, If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. May the Lord teach us from these Old Testament passages to seek the Lord who is willing to receive all those who come to him for grace and forgiveness. And may he enable us all who hear today to come to him today. For his name's sake. Amen.