Forgive my voice is going a little
hoarse, so sorry turn to first Kings chapter 20 First Kings chapter 20 This morning I just want to focus
on verses 31 through 34. That's the portion of scripture
we're going to look at. But so it'll make sense, I want
to give you the back story, give you an overview of what happened
in this chapter up to this point. This chapter focuses on two men
and two nations. You have King Ahab, and he's
the king over all Israel. And you have King Ben-Hadad,
and he's the king of Syria. And Syria is the arch rival of
Israel at this time. It's the greatest threat. Syria
has a much bigger army, much grandiose kingdom, and they're
the biggest threat to Israel as of right now. And Ben-Hadad,
well, he hates Ahab, and he hates Israel. And he hates them so
much that Ben-Hadad picks a fight with Ahab. That's very important.
Ben-Hadad picks this fight. And they go to war twice. Two
battles are fought. And in both of them, the Lord
granted Israel a supernatural victory. And I say supernatural
because in human odds, in the human realm of things, Israel
never could have won. During one battle, 7,000 Israeli
soldiers slaughter 100,000 Syrian soldiers. Human odds, that's
not going to happen. But the Lord was merciful. The
Lord intervened. This was a supernatural victory and He did that twice.
Twice He said, I'm going to grant you the victory and I'm going
to do it so that you'll know I'm God. That's the reason I'm
going to do it. And where we pick up in this story, in verse
31, their leader, the Syrian leader, Ben-Hadad, he is completely
and utterly conquered. He is vanquished. His army is
wiped out. He's in a little city called
Aphek and he is hiding with his servants. That's all that's left.
And they're trying to figure out what to do now. Let's see
what they come up with. Look at verse 31. And his servants, the servants
have been hated, said unto him, 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, if he's willing,
he will save thy life. So they girded sackcloth on their
loins and put ropes on their heads and came to the king of
Israel and said, thy servant been hated, saith. I pray thee,
let me live. And he said, is he yet alive?
He is my brother. What a gracious and an unexpected
reception of an enemy. This is what Ahab says to this
man Ben-Hadad. This man had been so cruel to
him and hated him so much. He says, Ben-Hadad, I know him.
He's my brother. Look down at verse 33. Now the
men did diligently observe whether anything would come from him.
And did hastily catch it. And they said, Thy brother been
hated. What that means is this. These servants, they were listening
very, very intently to everything Ahab had to say. They were listening
to the words of the king. And they were just waiting. Just
hoping that the king would have something merciful to say. Just
waiting and hoping when he said that. When Ahab said, Been hated?
That's my brother. Those merciful words came out.
And they called it And they latched on to it. You know what they
did? They repeated back to the king the exact same thing the
king said. They said, that's right, your
brother Ben-Hadad, you said that, Ahab. You said it, that's right.
Verse 33 again. Now the men did diligently observe
whether anything would come from him, and did hastily catch it.
And they said, thy brother Ben-Hadad. Then he said, go ye, bring it. Then Ben-Hadad came forth to
him, and he, speaking of Ahab, caused, don't miss that word,
him, Ben-Hadid, to come up into the cherry. Now verse 34 is a
little tricky. I want you to read the first
three words of verse 34. And Ben-Hadid said, now if you
have a King James Bible, what you'll notice is that that word
Ben-Hadid, it's in italics. And what that means is that it's
not in the original. It was provided by the translators trying to
give better context to the verse, but here it actually does damage.
Translators are wrong. This is not Ben-Hadad speaking.
This is Ahab speaking. Verse 34 is one conversation
between Ahab and Ben-Hadad, and it's completely and utterly one-sided. This is Ahab speaking the entire
time, and all it is is Ahab saying, I will? And ye shall, he hath
the type of Christ. We know that, let me prove it
to you. From the historical context, we know that that's the case.
In this verse, the speaker here, whoever is speaking here, what
he says is, my father, he built streets in Samaria. Well, play
that back. Ben-Hadad's father was a Syrian.
Samaria is part of Israel. A Syrian would have no business
building anything in Israel. But Ahab's father, Ahab's father
was Omri, the king before him. He had his whole headquarters
in Samaria. He built streets, he built roads, he built palaces,
he built all kinds of things in Samaria. We can be very sure
this is Ahab speaking the entire time. Now let's read it that
way. And Ahab said unto him, the cities which my father took
from my father I will restore. And thou shalt make streets for
thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab,
I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant
with him and sent him away. Now what we just read was a wonderful
and detailed and beautiful illustration of what it looks like when a
sinner comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what those verses
are illustrating. What it looks like, it's also
this, it's a blueprint. It's instructions on how a sinner
can come to Christ and he can find mercy and he can seek mercy
and he can obtain it. And this concept here, this thing
of coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, this is something that is very
near and dear to me and it's very important to me and it's very
important to you as well. And it's for this reason I want to
come to Christ. Whatever that means, if I never
have before, I want to do that right now. And I want you to
as well, because here's the situation, the reality of it. If I don't
come to Christ, and if you don't come to Christ, I will be damned
and so will you. That is the gravity and that
is the reality of the situation. That's why this is so utterly
important. Now, I want to make a few opening
statements about this thing of coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
What does it mean? What does it mean to come to
Christ? This is not a physical action.
This is the movement of the heart and the movement of the soul.
It is the movement from one person to another. In coming to Christ,
we are leaving someone and we are coming to someone else. We're
coming to Christ. And as soon as we come, we've
arrived. We're there. Now, who do we leave? We leave
ourselves. We abandon any hope of saving
ourselves. We abandon any hope of justifying
ourselves before a holy, and a sovereign, and a righteous
God. We abandon any hope in our works, in our best decisions,
and our best thoughts, and our best motives. We abandon all
that, and we come, and we cling, and we believe, and we trust
the Lord Jesus Christ for every aspect of our salvation. Now
this is the beauty of the simplicity of the gospel. That word salvation,
that is a huge word. There are so many aspects of
that. What's necessary for salvation? Righteousness. What's necessary? A substitutionary death. What's
necessary? Faith. What's necessary? Repentance. What's necessary? Calling grace. All these different
aspects of this thing called salvation. But this is the simplicity
of the gospel. Whatever is involved, whatever
it takes, we are trusting that He did every bit of it. Faith,
I must have it. I'm trusting Him to give it to
me. I'm literally trusting Him to give me the grace to cling
to Him. Repentance. I must have my mind
changed. I am trusting Him. I am trusting
Christ to change my mind, to turn me from myself to Him. Whatever
we are talking about, this is the simplicity of the Gospel.
We come trusting Christ for every aspect of that salvation. That's
what it means to come to Christ. And make no mistake, this is
the act of spiritual life. This is what people who have
been given spiritual life do. When a man is birthed into the
Kingdom of God, when he has that new man, that new nature, this
is what that new man does, this is what life does. It clings
to Christ. It believes on Him. And make
no mistake about this, this is not a one-time deal. It's not,
I came, okay that's over, let's move on. No, this is a perpetual
action. To whom coming? unto a living
stone. Constantly coming, perpetually
coming, every day, all the time, trusting, leaning, relying on
the Lord Jesus Christ for everything. That's what it means to come
to Christ. Now, who is commanded to come to Christ? Let me be
very plain about this. You are. I speak to everyone
in this room, and I speak to you individually and personally.
You are. You personally are commanded to abandon yourself and to cling
and to cleave and to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. You are. This
is personal. What is the reality of the situation? The reality
of the situation is by nature no man can come to Christ and
no man wants to come to Christ. John 6.44 the Lord said no man
can come to me. He lacks the ability in his fallen
natural state. He cannot come. He cannot believe.
No man can come to me except The Father which has sent me,
draw him. That's the only way a man will
come, if God draws him. That's it. He lacks the natural
ability. And you could almost feel bad
for men in that state of impotence. Almost. We shouldn't. That impotent
state we're born into, we earned that medal. Make no mistake about
that. But you could almost feel bad for the entire human race
in that state of impotence. But John 5.44 tells the rest
of the story, the other half. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. Half of the equation is man can't.
The other half of the equation is this, he doesn't want to.
By nature, no man wants to come to Christ. He desires not to
come to Christ. And it's for this reason, if
a man is saved by Christ, that means Christ gets all the glory
in that man's salvation. And the man has absolutely none.
It all boils down to glory. That's what man wants. He wants
himself to be glorified. He wants some glory in his own
salvation. And he feels as if, if my salvation
is accomplished by Christ, there's nothing in it for me. So he will
not come. We are responsible, folks. If
I go to hell, if a man goes to hell, it's his fault. He does
not want to come to Christ. Now, if that is the case, that
no man can and no man wants to, who will come? Somebody's gonna
come to Christ. Guaranteed. This is what our
Lord said in John 6, 37. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall, don't miss that word, come to me. The elect, that's who's gonna
come. Everybody God chose before the
foundation of the world unto salvation that He gave to the
Lord Jesus Christ in that covenant of grace before the world ever
began. Every one of them are going to come, no doubt about
it. You want to know why? Because it is the purpose and the will
of God that they come. And when God has a purpose and
a will, His purpose and will is in everything, it is always
played out. All the elect, everybody God
chose and He gave to Christ, they shall come to Him. They're
gonna be drawn irresistibly and invincibly. And make no mistake
about this, the message of the gospel, it is very simple. It
is come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Read you this, this is Revelation
22, 17. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Who's that? That is God, and that is God's
Church. They all have the same message, and it's this, Come.
And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth
say, Come, and let him that is of thirst come, and whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. If you can hear
me right now, and I mean with spiritual ears, listen to this.
If you have a need, A sin need. You can't do anything about your
sinful state before God. You're in the hands of a holy
and a just and a righteous God and you can't come up with a
good. You have a sin problem that you can't deal with. That
you can't do anything about. That means you're in need. That
means you're thirsty. Come. That's what the scripture
says. Come. Him that heareth, him that
is athirst, come and him who is willing. Now, this is a very
simple question. We can all ask ourselves this
right now. Are you willing to be saved by a Savior who will
have all the glory for Himself in your salvation? He's going
to get every bit of it. Every single bit of it. You and
I, if we're to be saved, we will simply be the damsel in distress
in the story. That's it. No glory is going
to come to us. All the glory is going to come
to Him. Now, will you be saved that way?
Because if you will, there's absolutely nothing natural about
that. That means you have a new heart and you have a new nature.
And that means right now, come. Do what life dictates that you
must do and come to Christ. And whosoever will, are you whosoever? Willing? Come? One stipulation,
only one. Take it freely. That's the only
stipulation. If you come with anything to
buy with, anything your own, anything to border with, Lord
you should save me because I, fill in the blank with whatever
you got, if you have anything to come with, you'll be turned
away, there's only one stipulation, you have to take it freely, free
for nothing, that's it. That's the message of the gospel.
Come, take the water of life, if you're in need, and take it
freely, that's the only stipulation. Now, Like I said before, this
is a beautiful illustration of what it looks like when a sinner
comes to Christ. And I think from this story we
can make a few observations. And here's the first observation
I made from this story. A man will only come to Christ
after Christ has completely conquered that man. Let's read about the
conquering of the hated for a moment. Go back to verse 1 of 1 Kings
20. And Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria,
gathered all his host together. And there were thirty and two
kings with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and
besieged Samaria, and warred against it. And he sent messengers
to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city, and said unto him,
Thus saith Ben-Hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine, thy wives
also, and thy children, even the goodliest. are mine. Now, I want you to consider Ben-Hadid's
attitude toward Ahab at this time. Consider the cruelty, the
unusual cruelty that Ben-Hadid had towards Ahab. Leave the silver
and gold out of it for a second. He says, Ahab, I'm coming, and
I'm going to take everything you love. I'm going to take your
wives, and I'm going to take your children, and I'm going
to take them away from you. And make no mistake about this,
this has nothing to do with simple covetousness. This is not Ben-Hadad
just wanting what Ahab has. Ben-Hadad is the king over a
great kingdom. Had plenty of silver, had plenty
of gold, probably had plenty of wives and plenty of children.
It wasn't about him wanting what Ahab had. This was about him
hating Ahab and wanting to take away everything Ahab had so he
could watch Ahab suffer. That's what he wanted. And this
was about dominance. I'm going to come and I'm going
to take everything from you so you'll see that I'm over you,
that I control you, that I'm on top of you. And folks, that's
the natural man in a nutshell right there. All in all, Ben-Hadid
is the natural man in his views towards God. Hating God, hating
his son, naturally wanting to watch his son suffer. And if
you need the evidence of that, all we have to do is look at
the cross. How He suffered. How Christ suffered. He suffered
according to the purpose and the will of God, absolutely.
But He suffered at the hands of men, because men hated Him.
All men hated Him. They wanted to watch Him suffer,
because He was the King. That's why they wanted to watch
Him suffer. Hated God, hated His Son, because His Son is the
King. And this is what the natural
man wants. He wants dominance over God. It's what Satan wanted. He said, I'll ascend through
the clouds. I'll ascend to the throne, I'll be just like the
Most High. And if you can be just like the Most High, that
means you can be over the Most High. And you yourself can be
the Most High. That's what Adam and Eve were duped by. Satan
said, you can be just like God. And if you can be just like God,
that means you can be over God. That means you can be God. That's
what every natural man wants. He wants dominance over God,
and he wants to watch his son suffer. That's it. And it's because
the teaching of this book says this, that Christ Himself is
dominant. that he is the dominant one,
that he holds all men in the palm of his hand, and the salvation
of every individual man is completely up to him, and he is without
manipulation. There is nothing you and I can
do to sway him. We are completely in his hand, and we are guilty
men in the hands of a holy and righteous God. That's why men
hate him. That's why men hate his dominance.
And they want to be dominant over God. That's the natural
man right there. But as this story goes on, Ben-Hadad is defeated twice.
And during this second defeat, he is completely wiped out. His
army is completely conquered. He is vanquished. He is put out.
And now he knows something. He's been conquered. He's been
brought low. And now he knows something. He
knows this, that God of Israel That really is God. He really
is dominant. And I really am in His hand.
He really can do with me as He sees fit. And Ben-Haden would
have known this. He would have known that he was
worthy of death. Who picked this fight? We just read it. Who picked the fight? Ben-Haden
picked the fight with Ahab. Who picked the fight with God?
Man did. Man picked this fight. He would have known that he was
worthy of death. He was a guilty man, and if Ahab put him to death,
that was it. Right just and fair was Ahab.
That's it. He would have known that he was
without resources. He had no army, he had no means to fight,
and he had no compelling reasons that he could go back to Ahab
and say, Ahab, you should show me mercy, and here's the reasons
why. We're not going to read this whole chapter this morning.
It's too long, but I encourage you to go home and read it. When
you read this, all you'll see in Ben-Hadad is hatred for Ahab
the entire time. Hatred and cruelty. There's nothing
he could fall back on and say, Ahab, you should show me mercy.
Here's some compelling reasons. He had absolutely nothing. And
from Ben-Hadad's standpoint, this is probably the worst day
of his life and the bleakest of circumstances he had ever
found himself in. But for the sinner, this is the
best thing that can ever happen to him. This is a sign of the
Lord's love and His affection for him. Because before the Lord
saves a man in His experience, this is exactly the place He
brings him to. He brings him low. He conquers that man to
where that man sees that he is in the hands of a dominant God.
And that dominant God can do with him as He sees fit. He makes
that man see that he is without resources. He is without compelling
arguments for God to show him mercy and His only hope is that
God would show him mercy and he would find the reason to show
that mercy in himself. Now, is Christ a merciful Savior? Is God a merciful God? Look at verse 31. And his servants said unto him,
Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel
are merciful kings. Now I wonder how many times they
had heard that before then. I'm sure the Syrians did their
research, did their homework on their enemies, the Israelites.
They would have known all about them. I'm sure plenty of times
they'd say, well, you know, you look at this, look at their history.
They're kings. They're all from merciful fellows. And it went
in one ear and out the other. Why? Because they never needed
mercy before. But now they're conquered. Now
they're brought love. Now they're in the hands of Ahab,
in the hands of a dominant God. And now the best news they ever
heard is the king of Israel. He's a merciful King. And that's
the second observation I make here is this. Christ Himself,
He is a merciful Christ. This is the last sentence from
Micah 7.18. It says, He retaineth not His anger forever, because
He delighteth. That's the word that's used there.
Delighteth in mercy. Now I look that word up because
I want to make sure that it meant what I thought it meant. It means
exactly what it says. He delights. He takes pleasure
in showing mercy to sinners. Showing mercy to men and women
who have sinned against him so terribly. Who have hated him
so terribly. Who have warred against him so
terribly. He actually delights. This is
a beautiful and wonderful attribute of God that no man can enter
into. He loves his enemies. And He delights to show mercy
to sinners who come to Him in this manner right here. He delights
to do it, and He is faithful to do it every single time. Now I read you John 6.37 a minute
ago, but I only read you the first half. This is the whole
thing. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. That is a promise
from God Himself. He says this, any sinner who
comes to me the way prescribed right here, I will not cast him
out, I'll receive him. That's it, that's the promise.
How do we come? Look at verse 31. And his servants said unto him,
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. Here's how they came, how these
servants came. First, they came with sackcloth
on their loins. The loins speak of life, and
sackcloth speaks of humiliation. How does a sinner come to the
Lord Jesus Christ? He comes in complete and utter
humiliation with his confession. That which I need to live before
God, I can't come up with. I can't produce life. What is it a man must have to
live before God? What must he have? What must
he be? He must be righteous. And it must be real and it must
be through and through in the very depths of his soul and the
depths of his heart. He must be righteous inside and outside.
Utterly righteous. And this is the confession of
any sinner that comes to Christ. I can't come up with the goods.
I can't do anything about my sin. I can't keep the law. I can't even take the first step
towards it. You have to do it all for me. I've got sackcloth
on my loins. I can't come up with what is
necessary for me to live before God. That's the first thing.
Sackcloth on their loins. And it says ropes on their heads. Now that's not talking about
a bandana. You know what that is? It's a noose around their
neck. They came with sackcloth on their
loins. I can't come up with the goods. I can't give myself life.
And they came with a noose around their neck. Ahab, we started
this fight. Ahab, we sinned against you.
Ahab, if you hang us from that tree over there, you know what
your name is? Your name is right, your name is just, your name
is fair. We come, folks, we come with absolutely no claims on
the mercy of God. And that is reinforced by the last sentence
here. It says, perventure, he will save thy life. What that
means is if he's willing. It's completely up to him. But
if I've got any claims on the mercy of God, I haven't come. Only way any man has ever truly
come, if he comes sacked off on his loins, I can't come up
with life. And he comes with a noose around
his neck. If he doesn't receive me, if he casts me off, if he
sends me to hell, he's right. He's God. He's fair. He's holy. He's righteous. I've nothing
to say about it because this circumstance I found myself in,
this is all my fault. Look at how Ahab responded to
the servants. Look at verse 32. So they girded sackcloth on their
loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of
Israel, and said, thy servant been hated, saith. I pray thee,
let me live. And he said, is he yet alive?
He is my brother. I want you to reconsider for
a moment the hatred and the cruelty in which Ben-Hadid dealt with
Ahab. Imagine someone coming to you right now and saying,
I hate you so much, I'm going to come to your house and I'm
going to take your wife and I'm going to take your children and
I'm going to take everything you love. I'm going to completely
and utterly strip you of it just so I can watch you suffer. Imagine that same individual. Someone turning around to them
and saying, you're my brother. What an example of the grace
of God to his people and the grace of God to sinners. I think
this is wonderful in a couple of different respects. Ahab says,
Benhated, that man who did so wickedly against me, that man
who was so cruel towards me, he's my brother and he put absolutely
no stipulations on Benhated whatsoever. He didn't say, OK, if he's serious
about this, show me something. Serve me for a number of years,
and maybe if you do a good job, maybe then I'll show mercy. He
didn't so much as ask for an apology. He simply said, is he
alive? And he did. That one who had
dealt with me so cruelly, that's my brother. I love him. There's
plenty of mercy for him all day long. And the scripture I thought
of is this, I'm sure you thought of it too. You all are very familiar
with Romans 8, 29 and 30, but listen to it again. For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified,
and whom he justified, then he also glorified." If a man ever
comes to Christ, if a sinner ever comes to Christ, you know
why he comes? He comes because he's family. He's the little
brother, he's the little sister of Christ himself. And when that
sinner comes with that sackcloth on his loins and that noose around
his neck, begging for mercy, he says, you, I know you, you're
my brother. For new I loved you before I
Loved you before the foundations of the world were ever built.
I Loved you in all that cruelty You know that hatred of me. I
loved you during all that. I've always Loved you I foreknew
you and you've been predestinated My father our father he predetermined
you to a known end to conformity to me right here And you've been
called that's why you're here and And you've been justified. I've done everything to justify
you before our Father. It's all been done. I've put
away your sin. You have a real perfect righteousness. And you,
right now in this world, are presently glorified. You lack
absolutely nothing. As long as I am acceptable before
my Father, you are acceptable before my Father. Why does a
man come to Christ? He comes because he's family.
And how is he received? He's received like family. You're
my brother. Look at verse 33. Now the men did diligently observe
whether anything would come from him, and did hastily catch it. And they said, they repeated
back to Ahab, that's right, thy brother been aided. Now, these
men were hanging on Ahab's every word. And the only words they
wanted to hear were the words of the king. They're the only
words that mattered to them at this point. And they were hoping
just to hear some words of mercy. And when they had it, when they
finally heard those words of mercy, they caught on to it,
and they simply repeated back to the king exactly what the
king had said. Now, gospel preaching, folks,
is really not much more than this. The Lord taking a weak
earthen vessel, and he brings him to the Lord, and he lifts
out what the king has said, and he tells everybody what the king
has said. And if a man hears this, this
gospel message, and he has not been conquered, the Lord has
not done anything for him, he has not intervened on his behalf,
he'll come and he'll hear with all kinds of preconceived notions.
Preconceived notions about who God is, about who he is, about
what doctrine should be. And when the gospel doesn't line
up with that, he says, I don't care what your book says, I don't
care what he says, that's not who I think God is, and they
move on. But when a man is conquered, when Christ conquers a man, He
doesn't have any preconceived notions about who God is anymore.
The only thing he wants to hear is what the King has to say.
That's the only thing that's going to give him any comfort,
give him any hope. What does the King have to say? I don't
care about a man's opinion. All I care about is what does
the King have to say? Well, it's found right here in
this book. And when he hears those merciful words, because
that's what the gospel is, it's merciful words, gracious words
to sinners, he latches on to it. And when he comes to Christ,
he simply comes repeating those merciful and those gracious words
back to him, saying, Lord, you said this, be good to your word.
You think about these scriptures that give hope. I can't get through
a message without quoting 1 Timothy 115. And this is a faithful saying.
and worthy of all acceptation. That Jesus Christ came into this
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. That's exactly how
we come. Lord, you said that. You said
that Christ died for the chiefest of sinners. That's me. That's
me. You said that. Be good to your
world. Romans 5, 6, for when we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Lord, you said that.
You said Christ died for those without strength, the impotent,
those who can't come up with the goods, and for the ungodly.
That's me. You promised Christ died for
me. You promised you would accept that sacrifice. Do what you said
you would do. Matthew 11, 28, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Lord, you said that. I'm heavy
laden. I got a pack full of sin on my
back and I can't shake it. You said if I come to you, you'll
give me rest. You said that. John 19, 30, when Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. Lord, you said that. You said
there's nothing left for a sinner to do. You said it's all done. I believe that. I want to be
true to your word. Receive me in Christ. Do what you said you
would do. That's how a sinner approaches.
Now, look at verse 33. Now the men did diligently observe
whether anything would come from him, and did hastily catch it.
And they said, Thy brother been hated. Then he said, Go ye, Brigham. Then Benhated came forth to him,
and don't miss this, this is glorious, and he, Ahab, caused
him, Benhated, to come up into the chariot. Now why does this
sinner come to Christ? Well, he comes because he's conquered
by Christ. He comes because he needs mercy
from the king. He comes because He's family.
He was purposed to this end to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He comes because He's commanded to come and because He's caused
to come. And this is talking about that
call of irresistible, invincible grace. Ahab said, Benhated, come! And what did Benhated do? He
came. He had no choice, but I'm sure
Ben-Hadad wanted no other choice. You imagine Ben-Hadad, knowing
everything he had done to Ahab and all his intentions toward
Ahab, just waiting to see what Ahab was going to say. And his
servants came back to him and said, what did he say? What did
Ahab say? The servants said, you're never
going to believe this. He called you his brother. And he said,
come on. You think Ben-Hadad hesitated
for a moment to come to Ahab? He had no choice, but he wanted
no other choice. That's how the call of grace
works. I think it's interesting it says here that he calls to
him to come up into the chariot. And the call of grace truly is
two part. It's a call to go down. It's
called to come back up. I Think you can look at Zacchaeus
and you can see that Zacchaeus was high in that tree and the
Lord came to him where he was at. He said Zacchaeus come down
That's the first command you come down for today I must abide
in your house and that's the first call when the Lord's dealing
with man the conquering come down You get out of there you
come down from these lofty thoughts of being able to save yourself
lofty thoughts of your own self-righteousness You come down and you take your
rightful place as a sinner before God You get low you get your
face in the dirt. That's the first call you come
down, but there's a call to come back up and He did that was that
keys. These were his parting words.
The Lord said this day salvation come to this house For so much
as he also is a son of Abraham for the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost That's exactly how the Lord
deals with his people. He says, come down. He brings
us low and he puts us in the dirt. And once we're faced down
in that dirt, a sinful, guilty man in the hands of a holy God,
that's when he whispers, I've come to seek and save that which
was lost. You lost? Yeah, I'm lost. I came for you. And then you
find out you're a son. He's a son of Abraham. You find
out you've been a son. You've been a child of God this
entire time. loved of God from the foundation
of the world, a joint heir with Christ. Because of the Lord Jesus
Christ and in the Lord Jesus Christ, everything that Christ
has coming to him from his Father, you're a recipient of that same
inheritance because you are a son. I think it's interesting. Salvation
began with the purpose of God, the will of God, the love of
God for a particular people, the choosing of a particular
people. All those things are the beginnings of salvation.
But finding out we're a part of that, That's the last thing
we find out. He brings us up. He shows us
this whole time, I love you. This whole time you've been a
child. This whole time you've been a joint heir with the Lord
Jesus Christ. This whole time, come on up. Now look at verse 34. Remember, this is Ahab speaking.
This has not been hated. And Ahab said unto him, The cities
which my father took from thy father I will restore. And thou
shalt make streets for thee in Damascus as my father made in
Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee
away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him
and sent him away. Why does the Lord Jesus Christ
receive his people when they come to him? Why does he receive
sinners when they come to him? Those two things are one and
the same. It's because before the foundations of the world
were ever built, He made a covenant with us. And it's this same covenant
that Ahab made with Ben-Hadad here. It's all one-sided. All
it is is Christ speaking to His family, speaking to His people,
I will and ye shall. And look what was promised in
this covenant. First thing that was promised
here is restoration. Ahab said, everything my father took from
your father, I'm going to restore. What happened in the garden? Our first father, Adam, he fell. He disobeyed God and he fell
and he lost his upright and innocent nature and he took on a sinful
and a wicked nature. He disobeyed God and God stripped
him of everything he had. What did he have? He had real
communion with God. He had real acceptance with God. This is a man who could walk
around that garden, and God would walk around that garden, and
he had no reason to fear when he came into God's presence.
He could stand there face to face and talk to Him like a man
would talk to his friend. That's what he had prior to the
fall, but then he disobeyed God, and God stripped all that from
him, took it from him rightly. And here's what the pledge is
from the Lord Jesus Christ to His people in this covenant.
He says, I'm going to restore you. Everything you lost in your
father, everything my father took from your father, I'm going
to restore it. That full acceptance your father had, you're going
to have it but so much more. This is going to be an immutable
state. As long as I'm accepted with my father, you're going
to be accepted with my father too. That same state of communion,
that same state of hope, all these things your father had,
They're going to be restored to you. You're going to have
everything back because of what I'm going to do for you. You're
going to get it all. You're going to get full restoration. But
it's so much more. Like I said, Adam was upright
and he was innocent, but he could change. And he did. He fell. But this state we have before
the Father, every believer has before the Father, it's immutable.
It cannot change because Christ cannot change. And that standing
is based on Christ alone. And he promises this, he says,
I'm going to make streets for you in Damascus. And it's interesting,
I looked up that word streets and I don't know why I did this,
but it isn't normally translated streets. The way it's normally
translated is without. So there is a within and there
is a without. And normally what it's talking
about when it's talking about moving to this without, it's removing
from a place of death and destruction, removing them without to a place
of peace and to a place of hope. Y'all know the story of Lot and
Sodom. Lord said, I'm gonna destroy Sodom. He sends the angels down
there, but Lot lingered. Lot didn't want to leave. Lot
was one of the lords. The angels couldn't destroy the
city until Lot left. Lot could not be harmed because
he belonged to the Lord. This is what Genesis 19.16 says.
And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and
upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters,
the Lord being merciful unto him. and they brought him forth
and set him without the city. That is the same word as streets.
What was promised in this covenant between Christ and his people?
Restoration and our moving to the without. The wrath of God
is never going to touch any of Christ's elect. And it's for
this reason because the wrath has already touched him. When
he went to that cross, bearing the sins of his people, suffering
under the wrath of God, dying and putting those sins away,
it ensured the wrath of God is never going to touch anybody
Christ died for. The wrath of God came down on
him. He suffered in Sodom. Everything came down on him,
and we were brought without. We were lifted out, and we were
put in a place of peace and a place of safety and a place of tranquility.
That's the promise. Restoration, safety from the
wrath of God because it's already touched Christ. Now I do think in this covenant
it's interesting. This is a covenant of grace we're talking about.
Completely one-sided. This is simply Ahab speaking
to Ben-Hadad. And the whole time it's Ahab
speaking and it's all I will and ye shall. This is speaking
of the covenant made between Christ and his people. But let's
look at the New Testament version of this. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8 and look at
verse 10. This is covenant that the Lord
Jesus Christ made with his people. This is the New Testament version.
Hebrews 8 verse 10. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them
a God They shall be to me a People notice once again all this is
is I will and they shall that's it Verse 11 and they shall not
teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying
no Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest
Because I'm gonna teach every one of them. I'm gonna reveal
myself to each and every one of them and For I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
I will remember no more. Simply because there's nothing
there to remember. Christ put it all away. And finally
this. In that he saith a new covenant,
he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Now, right now, if you're a believer,
you're coming to Christ. You're trusting in Him. You're
under this new covenant. And this new covenant puts absolutely
no stipulations on you. If you'll notice, everything
that's written there is, He will, and we shall. He's got all the
stipulations in the bargain. We just receive the benefit of
it. That's it. Adam was under that first covenant. Adam was
under that covenant of law. Adam had a stipulation he had
to uphold. If he wanted to continue with
his blessedness with God, he had to obey this one rule. Don't
eat the fruit. And it was a complete and utter
failure. And any covenant between God and man, where man has to
hold up his end of the bargain, it's a complete and utter failure.
It's going to lead to damnation. But if your hope is in Christ,
you are under this covenant of grace, where Christ said, I did
everything, and you simply reap all the benefits. Now I think
it's interesting. There's complete freedom in this
covenant. Right now, if your hope is in Christ, there is nothing
left for you to do. There's no law for you to keep.
The law's been kept. It's over. The law is satisfied
with you. God is satisfied with you. In
every way, shape, and form, you can't get more pleasing to God. And this is what Ahab said had
been hated at the end. He said, I'm gonna make this
covenant with you, and he sent him away. And this is the person
I thought of Lord gave sight to Bartimaeus. And after that
he said, your faith hath made you whole. Go your way. You're
free, Bartimaeus. You don't owe me anything. I've
given you sight, I've given you everything you need. Go your
way. You don't owe me a thing. This was all done by grace. What
did Bartimaeus do? Says he followed Jesus in the
way. Give a believer liberty. Give
him freedom from the law, give him a new heart, a new nature,
make him perfect before God. What does he want to do with
all that liberty? He simply follows Christ. That's it. All right,
folks, I hope that was a blessing to you. Be with you this morning.