Let's look to the book of 1 Kings
chapter 22, the chapter that Brother Randy has read to us. Before we begin, let's look to
the Lord in another word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you
this morning that we have again this privilege of gathering in
the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we thank Thee,
our Father, for the meeting already this morning for the reading
of your word, for the songs that so bless it, and Lord, for the
quoting of the verses by these young people, how we give you
praise, how we give you thanks for the work that you have done
and for the work that you're doing in the hearts of these
dear ones here. Now, fathers, we come this morning,
we remember the words that said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? Our Father, we would pray this
morning that there shall be a manifestation, anew and afresh, of the Lord
God of Elijah and the Lord God of Micaiah in our midst here
this morning. Pray, dear Lord, that you will
own your word and that you will bless your word, and this will
be a time of victory in the soul of some dear one here. We do
pray this morning, our Father, that you would tear every idol
from our hearts, that we might truly worship the Lamb upon the
throne. We pray your blessing now upon
us and your sufficiency, O may it be given. For Christ's sake
we pray, Amen. I will not read this story again
to you. I plan to go through it in our
study this morning. My subject this morning is a
little-known prophet and a guided missile. A little-known prophet
and a guided missile. Now I trust that you listen very
carefully as our brother read this chapter this morning. It
is imperative that you listen to the reading of the Word of
God, and I hope that you will listen every time someone gets
up to read the scriptures, the holy scriptures, and every time
someone stands to quote the word of God, that you will listen
intently. There is the ever-present temptation
when we come to the record that's given us in 1 and 2 Kings, to
want to emphasize some phase of the life of the prophet Elijah. Because he seems to dominate
the whole book of 1st and 2nd Kings. And his life is certainly
a life that is very rich in spiritual content. No doubt about that.
And we take nothing away from that this morning. However, there
is another prophet who is as little known as Elijah is well
known. And I want to say this for him,
he's in my estimation in the very same league with Elijah. I say that he's in the very same
league with the prophet Elijah. Although not as well known as
we said as Elijah, he's a very bold and he's a very courageous
man. And most every time he opened his mouth, most every time that
he preached a sermon, he ended up landing in jail because of
it. He was a man, I say, that was
courageous and a man that was very bold, a man that was singular
in his heart and in his thoughts. The reason being is that he happened
to be the one man standing for God and truth in the courts of
Ahab. And what he said was always unfavorable
to Ahab. Now as you know a great many
people do not like to have anything said that is unfavorable to them. And that was true of Ahab king
of Israel. Now you might recall that in
the history of Israel the glorious reign of Solomon, and how that
it concluded with the warning given to him that the kingdom
was to be divided. Well, it was divided, and there
were ten tribes in the north, and the one tribe, Judah, with
little Benjamin in the south. Now, Israel and Judah were to
walk their separate ways, but both would finally fall into
captivity. So we have Ahab the king of Israel
in the north. who is probably the worst king
that they ever had and probably the worst king that any kingdom
ever had. I invite you to just turn back
a page in your Bible to the 21st chapter and look at verse 25.
But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself
to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his
wife stirred up. This is the language of the Spirit
of God. None like unto Ahab, which did
sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. So
we have Ahab here, we say probably the worst king that any kingdom
ever had. And we have Jehoshaphat, king
of Judah in the south, and he's one of the very best kings that
they ever had. And normally these two kingdoms
would have been further apart than they ever were in their
history. but they were closely allied. This was an abnormal alliance,
this was an unnatural confederacy, and this is like when the saved
marry the unsaved. They were closely allied, and
the reason being was that Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king
of Judah, had married Athila, the daughter of Ahab. She was
known as Bloody Athila, because she killed every one of her grandchildren
that she could get her hands on. And so Jehoram, the son of
Jehoshaphat, had married the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. And as we said, it was a very
abnormal alliance. a natural confederacy, as it
is when a saved person marries an unsaved person. You say, oh,
it'll be all right. They're going to turn out, I'm
sure, to be a very, very nice individual. But you'll discover
down the road that it was the wrong thing to do, and the Word
of God says plainly that you are to remain separate, be separate,
come out from among them and be separate in the world. And so this should have been
held to by Jehoshaphat, but no, he would align himself, this
affinity, with Ahab. Now these two men, Ahab and Jehoshaphat,
are far apart. tore apart in their thinking
and in their relationship to God, certainly, yet you find
them joining up, find them joining hands. Now, Ahab had Jehoshaphat
over for a visit, and they're kinfolk now, you know. one Jehoshaphat's
son married into the family. And while he was there, Ahab
chose a time when he would speak of a certain situation that is
described for us over here in verse 3. of the 22nd chapter,
verse 3 and 4. And the king of Israel said unto
his servants, as they were all sitting around after dinner,
he said unto his servants, Know ye not that Ramoth and Gilead
is ours? And we be still, and take it
not out of the hand of the king of Syria. And he said unto Jehoshaphat,
Will thou go up with me to battle to Raimath-gilead? And Jehoshaphat
said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art my people as thy
people my horses as thy horses. And so we see that Ahab chose
his time and his words and he would have Jehoshaphat to enter
in with him to go up to battle the Syrians and to take back
what belongs, he says, unto them. And Jehoshaphat has said, I'll
go with you. My people are your people. Sounds
mighty deep, this alliance. My people are your people. My
horses are your horses. Whatever I've got is yours. And
so I'm with you, and I'll go into battle with you. But look
at verse 5. or verse 5, and Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel,
remember that Jehoshaphat is a spiritual man. Jehoshaphat
is a believer in the God of heaven. And he said, inquire, I pray
thee, at the word of the Lord today. In other words, we're
going on this venture to go up to take Raimuth Gilead back,
but we must inquire of the Lord. We must know God's mind about
the matter. We must come to understand what
it is that God would say about this. Then the king of Israel
gathered the prophets together, verse 6, about four hundred men,
and said to them, Shall I go against Rameth, Gilead to battle,
or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for the
Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. So Ahab had
his paid prophets, he had his paid preachers, and he had them
to come in. And so they came in, and verse
6 tells us here that what they told him said, go up, said go
up, go up, and the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the
king. In other words, this is the word from God to you, Ahab,
Jehoshaphat, this is God's word to you this morning. This is
your marching orders, go up, go up, and it shall be delivered
into your hand. Now they said exactly what Ahab
wanted to hear. And beloved, this is the tragedy
of this hour in which we live. The men in pulpits across America
are saying the thing that people want to hear. We read in 2 Timothy
chapter 4 and verse 3 and 4, for the time will come, this
is the warning of the Apostle Paul through the Holy Spirit.
He says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine, but after their own lust, after their own desires,
shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears
themselves. They're going to go out, search
out, find teachers that will scratch the itch in their ears. That's what they want and that's
what they're going to do. And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. Blood
of the pulpit in our day has turned into nothing more than
a sounding board instead of that voice, that lone voice that's
crying in the wilderness, crying out for the Lord. That voice
is now silent or just a sounding board for what the people want
to hear. Now these prophets, these 400
prophets, they eat, you know, at the table of Ahab. They know
which side their bread is buttered on, and so they say the thing
that Ahab wants them to say. Well, bless God, it's wonderful
when you come to the place where that it doesn't make any difference
to you which side of the bread your butter is on, because you
eat both sides of it anyway. And when you will stand and be
firm in your conviction and declare what it is that you believe in
your heart that God would have the people around you to hear. So go up to battle, you will
win. That's what verse 6 says. That's
what these prophets told old Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Now note
if you will verse 7. Jehoshaphat is God's man. And
in verse 70 says, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides
that we might inquire of him? We've heard these 400 prophets,
an elephant well-dressed, marching around, each one of them taking
their turn, as they trot around in front of the two kings, telling
them, go up, go up, you'll win the battle. But old Jehoshaphat
has some spiritual discernment. He has heard from God before,
and he knows there's something wrong somewhere. There's something
not quite right here. And so he says, well, is there
not a prophet? and not a prophet of the Lord
besides that we might inquire of him? Is there not somebody
here that we could get another viewpoint? That we could get
another angle here on this situation? Is there not somebody else? And
I say that he had spiritual discernment. And he knows that these 400 prophets
are not giving God's message. He has this feeling in his soul
that he's not hearing from God in what these people are saying.
And in verse 8, notice this. And the king of Israel, Ahab,
said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man. There is yet
One man. Four hundred who are willing
to please, but there is one man in this court who will stand
for God. There is yet one man. May it ever be so. If it comes
down to it where there is just one man, may it ever be so that
there shall be one that shall stand for the message of our
God. So then he goes on to introduce
him. There is yet one man, Micaiah,
the son of Imlach, by whom we may inquire the Lord. This is
the man. And so Ahab is introducing him
at the after-dinner desk. And he said, there is one man.
And here's how he introduces him. He says, but I hate him. I hate this man. And the reason
I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me,
but evil. I hate this man. I hate him. Alright? How would you like an
introduction like this? Here's this man, Micaiah, but
I hate this man, and I tell you the man who preaches the word
of God, he will get a tongue lashing from those who do not
want to hear the truth of God in our day. He will. He'll be
talked about, he'll be spoken against. And all kinds of evil
will be said, slanderously spoken against a man who will dare stand
in the face of this generation and tell them what they need
to hear. But I hate him. When I go to church, I want to
be comforted. But many need, listen to me,
many need the sharp errors of the Word of God today. Men and
women do not want to be told what they are before God. They
do not want to be called what God calls them, and that's dead
dog sinners. They don't want to be called
that. And they do not want to be described in the language
of the Word of God, wiggling maggots of the dust, worms of
the dust. They don't want to hear that.
They do not want to be rebuked for their sin. You don't want
anyone standing in their face telling them what they ought
not be doing. and how that they ought to change
and repent of their sin and turn from their sin to faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. They do not want the spotlight
of the Word of God to shine upon their souls, upon their hearts,
upon their lives. They do not want that. They do
not want that. And so therefore they will say,
as Ahab did, I hate him. I hate him because he has told
me something that is unfavorable to me. And actually, that's the
best compliment that Micaiah ever had. Ahab said, I hate him. I tell you, it's the best compliment
he ever had. This old prophet. We're told
that a man may be known by the friends that he has. But I think
we can better know a man by the enemies that he makes. We can
better know a man by the enemies that are his, that he makes through
what he stands for and what he preaches. The best thing you
can say for Micaiah was Ahab hates him. Tells you everything
you need to know. This wicked king, sinful king
that despised God and his truth and his holiness. hates this
prophet. That tells me something. Now,
Micaiah, and I want you to understand what I'm saying. The best thing
that could be said for him was, Ahab hated it. But I want you
to know that this man, Micaiah, was the best friend that Ahab
had in the court. Now you pardon me, I've had a
bad cold all week, and I'm getting it out, but I've got some problems,
so if I stutter a little bit, don't think a thing about it.
Let me just say this to you, that this man Mekhiah is the
best friend that Ahab has in the court. If he would have listened
to this man, it would have saved his life. His life would have
been spared. If he would have just come down
off his high horse and got down off his pride, his stump of pride,
and just submitted himself to the voice of God, it would have
saved his life. But he wouldn't do that. I say
all these people running around there buttering up O'Ahab, buttering
him up, telling him what to do. Oh yes, you're pompous and you're
almighty and you're sovereign and you just go up there and
win this battle. Oh, it's just a piece of cake.
Micaiah was his friend. And I'll tell you, my friend,
when you're prone to say about the man who's preaching to you,
that man is against me. That man is talking against me. He is trying to ruin my life. I'm telling you, you better listen.
He's the best friend you've got on the plate if he tells you
the truth about yourself. I remember in Galatians 4 where
Paul said to the Galatians, have I become your enemy because I
tell you the truth? Have I become your enemy because
I told you the truth about salvation being entirely by the Lord Jesus
Christ and that by the works of the law shall no deeds be
justified in His sight? Because I told you the truth,
have I become your enemy? Listen, I love this fellow, Micaiah,
in this day of compromise. It's a wonderful thing to see
a man like this in a day when everybody's saying peace at any
price. Peace at any price. Preach whatever
they want to hear, preacher. Don't say nothing about sovereign
grace, just say grace. Say nothing about sovereign grace. My friend, let me tell you something,
there isn't any other kind but sovereign grace. Say, Preacher,
choose your words. Why don't we just use the language
of the Word of God? That the Lord has mercy on whom
He will have mercy, and whom He will hear our heart. And that
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. Beloved, I'm bound to give thanks
unto God for you, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification and the belief of the truth.
Why don't we just use the language of the Word of God? Oh preacher,
you've got to hold that back. My friend, I say let it go. I
say let it loose. I say preach the Word of God
unto those that will hear it and let those who will become
angry and let them who will for their disapproval. Let them say
what they will. It's not peace at any price. We will not sell the gospel for
a dollar. And somebody said, I won't even
pay that. And the preacher says, well,
I'll take 50 cents. And I won't pay that. I'll take
a quarter. Oh, would you just give a dime
for the gospel? Oh no, my friend. No, my friend. The gospel has an inestimable
price upon it. The gospel is far more precious
than gold and jewels. The gospel of redeeming grace
is that which separates my never-dying soul from an eternal hell unto
heavenly bliss and eternal glory. The gospel must be preached in
its purity and its power. Well, this prophet spent most
of his ministry in jail, and that's where he was when they
sent for him. That's where he was. He was over in jail. He
was on the bed of affliction. He was on water and on bread. He was in jail. God reminds me
of Paul when he went into a town. Wasn't interested about their
accommodations in their motels. He was more concerned about their
jails. Because that's where he was going to end up. And here's
this man, he's in jail. Well, I want you to look down
in verse 13, 14, and 15. Verse 13. And the messenger that was gone
to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now the words
of the prophets. There's been some good preachers
here this morning. Been some mighty good preaching
going on in front of old Ahab and Jehoshaphat, and their message
has been clear, Micaiah. And I pray you be like the word
of one of them, and speak that which is good. I don't want you
going in there and messing up the spirit of the meeting. And
you know some of the meetings sometimes that a fella gets up,
says anything about the grace of God, and that just shuts the
meeting down. Everybody loses their joy. It's
all over after somebody preaches, talks about sovereign grace,
talks about salvation, being of the Lord from the beginning
to the end, and says it so plainly that nobody can misunderstand
what they're talking about. You kill the spirit in our meeting. That's what they say. Well, listen
to me. He said, you just say what's
good. You agree with them and you speak
what is good. I don't want you causing a ripple
in front of these kings. See, this Jehoshaphat is our
guest and you just agreed with what them prophets say. And Micaiah
said, is the Lord living? What the Lord says unto me, that.
Well, I speak. I've lost it all. I spend my
time in the prison. I don't spend my time eating
at Ahab's table like the rest of these birds do. And I don't
get paid for what I'm doing. And I'm not listening to what
you tell me. What it is that the Lord wants
me to say, that's what I'm going to say. I ain't saying anything
else. And you listen, so he came to
the king and the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go against
Raimond Gilad to battle, verse 15, or shall we forbear? And
he's a man of humor. And he answers, go and prosper,
for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And
the king said to him in verse 16, quit kidding me. Quit kidding
me! You're joking around with me!
You're just being humorous to me!" He said, how many times
shall I adjure you that thou tell me nothing but that which
is true in the name of the Lord? And he said, listen to it in
verse 17, and he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon
the hills. This is the prophet, the vision
that he has. As sheep that have not a shepherd,
and the Lord said, these have no master. Do you know what those
words mean? Do you know what they mean? It
means this. It means that Ahab will be killed
in the battle. You see, he's the master of the
army of Israel. It means that Ahab has died. He's going to die. You see, God
gave this vision to Micaiah. And here he speaks the truth.
And the king of Israel said in verse 18 in Jehoshaphat, Did
not I tell you? Did not I tell you what he was
going to do? That he would prophesy no good
concerning me but evil. Did not I tell you that? I know
this man. I know this man is against me from the word go. I know he don't like me. I know
he just got something against me. And here it is. I told you
what he was going to do. Alright? And then in verse 19,
I want you to hear the parable of Micaiah. A parable. Now a
parable is used by our Lord to speak to people that wouldn't
listen otherwise. Wouldn't listen, wouldn't pay
attention. And the word parable means something that you throw
down alongside the real thing to measure it or to illustrate
it, to show you what the truth is. And as we said, it was given
to hard-headed people that wouldn't listen otherwise. And so here
we have it in verse 19 and verse 20. And he said, Hear thou therefore
the word of the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord. Hear
the word of him that sits upon the circle of the earth. That
circle of eternity. Hear him. Hear the sovereign
God of eternity. Hear the Lord God of Elijah.
Here, the Lord that made the heavens and the earth. I saw
the Lord, he says, sitting on his throne and all the host of
heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. Now
this is some picture, isn't it? What a picture. The Lord sitting
on his throne. All of his servants, all of the
servants gathered around the throne. standing by him on his
right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall
persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Raimeth-Gilead?
And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
And there came forth a spirit and stood. I'd like to ask Mackay
about how a spirit can stand when I see him. There came forth
a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade
him. You know as I read these words
I thought about the fact that our God He doesn't need a counselor. He doesn't need anybody to instruct
him. And I remember Isaiah 40 and 13 says, Who hath directed
the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath taught him.
With whom took he counsel, or who instructed him, and taught
him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and
showed to him the way of understanding. And then in Romans 11 verse 33
and 34, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge
of God, how unsearchable are His judgments, His ways past
finding out, or who hath been His instructor, or who hath been
His counselor. But you know, here's this God,
and our God is the sovereign, He knows all things. But in this
parable, He is pictured. He's pictured as one sitting
here, like a board of directors meeting
that's been called in heaven. The chairman of the board is
the Lord. He's sitting here. That's the
picture in the parable. But you know, our God is absolutely
sovereign, knows all things. He knew exactly what He would
do. This last week, I thought about our Lord Jesus Christ,
Master, and when he was in this world, how that he did, there was two things
he never did. One thing he never did was that he never ever, when
it come to making the decision about his life, ever deferred
to his own heart in the matter. It was always the will of the
Lord be done, the will of God be done, the will of the Father.
That's what I've come to do. The will of God must be done.
He never ever said, what does my own heart want? I think that's
a real good lesson. Number two, he never asked for
advice. Never did. There was one occasion
when he asked Philip. He said when he fed the 5,000
he said from whence shall we buy bread that these may eat.
But the very next part of the scripture says that this he said
to prove Philip he already knew what he was going to do. Jesus
never asked for any advice. Now I'm not Jesus and I often
ask for advice. And it's alright I think for
believers to talk to one another about things. I think it is.
But I want you to know that we're not here telling you that God
had to have a little party in heaven and call these servants
together to get a mind about how to get Ahab up to Raimi of
Gilead that he might be slain. God didn't need any help. This
is the parable, don't you see? This is Micaiah's way of standing
in the face of those 400 prophets and telling them you're bold-faced
liars. You're liars! Let me tell you
what's been going on up in heaven. There's been a big meeting up
in heaven. And the Lord said unto this spirit that comes and
stands and says, I'll go and persuade him. The Lord said to
him, wherewith? And he said, I'm going forth
and I'll be a lion's spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets.
And he said, thou shalt persuade him and prevail also. Go forth
and do so. Now, beloved, you see then that's
his way of showing Ahab and Jehoshaphat what's been going on up in heaven. Now therefore behold the Lord,
and verse 23, hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these
thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.
And one of these prophets Zedekiah, big proud man, big man, fleshly
man, big fella, been eating all that rich food at Ahab's table. He comes over and he smacks Micaiah,
been on bread and water, down in the prison, down in the dungeon,
and said, which way went the spirit of the Lord from me unto
you. Which way? And Micaiah said,
Bole, thou shalt see in that day. You'll see in that day when
the counsel of heaven is executed upon your king. You'll see in
that day when thou shalt go into your inner chamber to hide yourself
in shame that you've spoken to this man and told him a lie and
told him to go up. and that he would win the battle.
You'll see. You'll see. All right? And Micaiah
said, or the king of Israel, verse 26, said, you take this
man, Micaiah, you carry him back And to the governor of the city,
Joe asked the king's son and said, thus saith the king, you
put this fellow in the prison, you feed him with the bread of
affliction, the water of affliction, until I come in peace, until
I come back. I'm going on this mission, and
you go, you put him in prison until I come back. And Micaiah
said, if you return at all, In peace, the Lord didn't speak
for me. And he said, hearken, O people,
every one of you. The prophet Micaiah said, I'm
not saying this for this king's sake. I want everybody that hears
what I'm saying today, I'm saying it for your sake. If this man
comes back here, I have not spoken the word of the Lord. So the
king of Israel and Jehoshaphat. Let's look at verse 30. He said to Jehoshaphat, we're
going into battle here. And old Jehoshaphat, he has a
bag filled with tricks. He's as slippery as an eel. And
he said, you just leave on your kingly garments, Jehoshaphat.
He loves him. He's family. You just leave your
kingly garments on. We're going into battle. But
I'm going to put on a buck private's uniform, and I'm going to disguise
myself. We're going into battle, and
we'll see here the story as it unfolds. But the king of Syria
commanded his 32 captains to rule over his church. He said,
I don't want you to fight with anybody but the king of Israel. Save great or small. Single him out. I want you to
kill the king of Israel. And it came to pass when the
captain of the church saw Jehoshaphat in his kingly purple colors,
his kingly attire. they said this is the king of
Israel. You think Oahab didn't know that
to begin with? Absolutely he knew it. Absolutely. Don't you be so far quick to
believe how much your relatives love you my friend. When it comes
down to their height, when it comes down to their height, my
friend you trust God and you trust God only. So anyway as
the story goes when these captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat
They said, this is the fellow we're after. And it came to pass
when they perceived that it was not the king of Israel. I don't
know whether he looked better handsome or handsome than the
king of Israel or what it was. I don't know whether one was
bald and the other one wasn't. I don't know anything about what
distinguished them. But nevertheless, they knew that
he wasn't the king of Israel. They turned back from pursuing
him. But old Jehoshaphat, almost,
he was fortunate that he was not killed in this battle. For
while it looked like old Ahab, like the slippery eel as we said
that he was, it looks like that Micaiah's prophecy is all wrong,
and that God is to be mocked, and that Providence is on the
side of this old wicked king again. That's the way it looks. It looks like he's escaped. But
then, my friend, something happens. Something happens. Verse 34,
And a certain man drew a boat of injury, and smote the king
of Israel between the joints of the harness. Wherefore he
said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me
out of the host, for I am wounded. A certain man, an unknown man,
a man in the infantry, and he had shot all of his heirs, he
had one left, And he said, I just might as well get rid of this
thing. He said, after all, my sergeant's going to come by directly,
and if he sees I've got one arrow left that I haven't fired at
the enemy, he's going to be on my back. And so I've got to get
rid of this arrow. So he puts it in the bow, and
he pulls her back, and he aims at nothing. Nothing. And this guided missile goes
out. And there's a half-inch joint. in the joints of the armor
in Ahab. And it pierces that armor right
in that joint, that armor, right into his heart. He says, I'm
wounded! Take me out of the battle! Take
me out of the battle! And oh, Ahab was fatally wounded
by this guided missile, this missile that God had aimed at
his heart. God aimed it at his heart. It
wasn't necessary for anybody to aim the bow, aim the arrow. It wasn't necessary. God aimed
the arrow. Had Ahab's name on it, as people
often say. It found its way. You know, I
was wondering, and I want to close this message out today, I'd like to say a little bit
more about how the dogs licked up his blood, because I think
that's good. Because God said when he was
over in Naboth's vineyard, you remember old Jezebel had two
sons of Belial to testify against righteous Naboth? And as soon
as he died, as soon as they took him out, they said, this man
is blaspheming God and the king. They took him out and stoned
him off to death. He never did any such thing.
They lied on him. And old Ahab went proudly down
there and the prophet of God, old Elijah, God said, you go
down there and tell this fellow. You murdered and now you're going
down to possess. And he said, the blood, the dogs
are going to eat your blood. They're going to lick your blood.
And that's just exactly what happened here, O Ahab. God was
out to get him, and he did. But I ask myself this question.
Does God still use this method today? This method of sending
Ares out to kill his enemies? To wound his enemies? Does he
do that? Alright, let's look at a couple
of verses, and I'm going to hurry. Let's look at Psalm 8, first
of all. Psalm 8 and look at verse 11. God judges the righteous
and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, God
is angry with the wicked every day. You put yourself in those
shoes if that's where you belong. Put yourself right there. And
God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he
will whet his sword. He hath been his bowl, and he's
made it ready. He hath also prepared the instruments
of death. He ordaineth his heirs. He ordaineth
his heirs against the persecutors. So you see in these verses here
it is evident that God is still bending his bow and he's made
it ready and he's got an error in it. And he's ordained that
error for the wicked with whom he is angry every day. Look in
Psalm 21. Psalm 21 and look at verse 8. Thine hand shall find out all
thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out
those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery
oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up
in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt
thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the
children of men. For they intended evil against thee. They imagined
mischief devices which they are not able to perform. Therefore
shalt thou make them turn their back when thou shalt make ready
thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be
thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength. So shall we sing
and praise thy power. So the Lord will cause his enemies
to turn their face away from them when they see that the heir
is in the boat. and that He is ready to let loose
and let fly that error into their eternal soul. And so my friend,
I hope that God will speak to you. Turn to Psalm 45. We're
just about through here. Psalm 45 and verse 3 and 5. Three through five, gird thy
sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty with thy glory and thy
majesty, and thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth
and meekness and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach
thee terrible things. Thine heirs are sharp in the
hearts of the kings and of men, whereby the people fall under
thee. The heirs of God are sharp in
the hearts of the king's enemies. Are you one of the enemies of
God? Are you a rebel against God?
Are you an unbeliever living in sin? There's an error that,
there's several of them. I would like to shoot a few of
them this morning. 1 Corinthians 2 and 14, one of
the errors that I would shoot is that the natural man, and
you listen to me, a man, a woman in their natural state, Receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. These things that we've
talked about this morning, maybe they make sense to you in a literal
sense, maybe in a literary way they make sense
to you, but spiritually you may not be able to discern and certainly
you cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God because
they can only be discerned by someone who has the Holy Spirit. And I shut you up to this, that
if you have not the Spirit of Christ, you are none of His,
and you cannot see the Kingdom of God, and you cannot discern
or understand the things of the Kingdom of God. Also this arrow
I would shoot into your heart, the King's arrow, that is sharp,
I would shoot it into your heart. He that believeth is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
one more era that I would shoot this morning into your heart
in John 3 and 36 where the Lord Jesus Christ, where John the
Baptist said that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the
wrath of God abideth on them. God's wrath abides on you. My
friend, you're not executed yet. Flee the wrath to come. I tell
you, the air is on its way to your heart. Flee the wrath to
come. You must flee the wrath to come. I tell you this story and I'm
done. There was a young man in Switzerland. who had been brought
up in a home where God and the Bible was greatly revered. Although the gospel was often
presented to him with loving urgency, he refused to believe
it and became increasingly rebellious. Listen to what I'm saying. Finally,
he said, one day, I'm sick and tired of Christians. I'm going
to look for a place where I can avoid them. And his mother wept
greatly as he packed his suitcases and left home. And he boarded
a train only to find the two passengers seated behind him
were discussing the scriptures. And he said, I'm not going to
stay in this chair. I'm not going to stay in this seat. And so
at the next stop, he left the train. And he entered into a
restaurant. And to his dismay, some elderly
women were talking about the Lord's second coming. Knowing
that a ship was docked nearby, he decided that it might be a
way to escape all of this religious chatter, which he had encountered
at every turn. But when the steamer embarked,
he discovered that it was filled with happy young students from
a Bible academy, thoroughly disgusted. he made his way downstairs to
the bar and approaching the bartender he explained say can you tell
a man where he can get away from all these cursed fanatics and the bartender looked at him
and said you can go to hell you're not going to find any Christians
there you can go to hell there won't be any there and that was
an error that shot through the heart of this young man. He went
back home and sought his mother's Savior and was saved, delivered
from his sin. The errors of God's wrath are
sharp, my friend, and there's one headed right toward your
soul this morning. May God be pleased to use this
message on a little-known prophet in a guided mission. to touch
your heart. I trust that some of you here
this morning, the Lord might bring out of your sin, pray to
himself, oh please, hear the word of God, hear as sure as
Micah as God is in heaven, as sure as God sits at counsel with
himself. Because he needs no other instructors.
God never went to school. Nobody taught him. He knows how
to handle you, my friend. He knows how to deal with you.
God will send you off into eternal hell. Except you repent. Turn from your sin.