Would you turn to 1 Kings chapter
22? While you're turning there, I
guess most of you know that Zach Bird is still in the hospital,
and he is undergoing some steroids, and I don't think they have an
exact diagnosis, but everybody remember him. He's at Central,
or he's at UK right now. First Kings chapter 22, let's
pray together. Our merciful heavenly father,
we come into your presence in the name of thy blessed son.
And we ask in his name that you would be pleased to meet with
us and speak in power to our hearts from your word and enable
us to worship thy dear son. Enable us to believe on his name.
Teach us what it is to rest in him. Lord, we confess our many
sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing
for Christ's sake. Accept our thanksgiving. Give
us grace to love you more and love one another more. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen. Now this is a. a very interesting
passage of scripture to say the least. I've always loved this
passage of scripture. But I would like to introduce
this by looking in chapter 20, verses 42 and 43. I'm stepping on something. Is
that me making that noise? Okay. Verse 42 of 1 Kings 20,
and he said unto him, thus saith the Lord. This is speaking to
Ahab. Because thou has let go out of
thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, Ben-Hadad,
and he represents human religion, the son of a false god is the
actual word, Ben-Hadad. Because you have let go out of
thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore
thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.
And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased. He was angry at this judgment. He disagreed. He was mad. He was upset. And he came to
Samaria. Now chapter 22 is about God's
judgment against him and about his death. So look in chapter
22 with me. And they continued. three years
without war between Syria and Israel. This is three years later
after this had taken place. And it came to pass in the third
year that Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king
of Israel, Ahab. And the king of Israel said unto
his servants, know ye that Ramoth-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, wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king
of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses
as thy horses. Now, we know from the Chronicles
account that Jehoshaphat was wrong for doing this, for making
affinity with the king of Israel. And Jehu the prophet comes and
rebukes him for it and says, you're gonna be in trouble because
of this. But at any rate, he did it, Jehoshaphat. He was a
good king. He served the Lord with all of his heart, the scripture
says. He was like his daddy, Asa, and the Lord rebuked him
for going and making affinity with somebody who, he said, hated
the Lord. You can read about this in 1
Chronicles 18 and 19, the same event. He was rebuked. But for
whatever reason, Jehoshaphat made affinity with Ahab. He said, my horses is your horses,
my people is your people. And they were going after Ramoth-Gilead,
which actually belonged to Israel. It was one of the cities of refuge,
and they had every right to take it. So let's go on reading. Verse
5, you'd think Jehoshaphat would have done this beforehand. And
Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, inquire, I pray thee,
of the word of the Lord today. Let's see what the Lord has to
say about us going to take this place. Then the king of Israel
gathered the prophets together, about 400 men. It appears that
he replaced those 400 false prophets that Elijah had put to death.
So he has 400 new men, new prophets. And he said unto them, shall
I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And
they said, go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand
of the king. You're going to be successful in this. The Lord
is going to bless this. And Jehoshaphat said, is there
not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we may inquire of
him? I know what these fellows are
saying, but how about a prophet of the Lord of Jehovah? Can we
inquire of him? I look at this answer. And the
king of Israel said in Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man, Micaiah,
the son of Imlam, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but
I hate him. I despise him. For he doth not
prophesy good concerning me, but evil. All he ever has to
say is bad things about me. He never gives me a good prophecy. I hate him. Now, what this tells
me is the true prophet will always tell the truth regarding man. Nothing but evil, no good. Now, let me say that with regard
to men, I want to be an encouragement to men. I want to be friendly
to men. I want to love men. I want to
treat them as I want to be treated. I want to be thankful for any
good they do. I'm not talking about somebody
doing something and you had an evil motive for that, you were
wrong. But I am saying this, when I deal with men, when you
deal with men, we're to tell the truth regarding man, no good
Nothing but evil. You see, if someone is wrong
on the fall, they're wrong on it all. No good, nothing but evil. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together, become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one. That's Paul quoting
David in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. That's what he said in Romans
chapter three. Now, if I tell the truth regarding
the character of man, you will not be saved because of your
wickedness unless God is pleased to do something for you. You're
totally in his hands and you cannot be saved. You will not
be saved unless the Lord is pleased in mercy to do something for
you. Now that's just the truth. That's
just the truth. Man at his best state, altogether
vanity, evil. And that's what Ahab disagreed
with. And that's what false religion
will always disagree with. They'll say, man can do things.
We got a free will. We can We can be saved whenever
we want to be saved, as long as we decide to let God do it.
Or there's the belief in progressive sanctification, how you can become
more and more holy by the things that you do, and less and less
sinful. A denial of two natures is a
denial of total depravity. You're saying that man's nature,
by grace, can, by grace, become better, and it's just a denial
of what any true prophet is going to say. There's nothing but bad. That's what Ahab said. I hate
him. He never speaks good concerning me. There's nothing he's got
to say good about me. Only evil. Now, when you come
to that, That's when you're going to see your need for mercy. That's
when you're going to see your need for grace. But we know where
Ahab stood, so let's go on reading. Then the king of Israel called
an officer and said, Hasten hither, Micaiah the son of Ammon. Go
ahead and bring him here. And the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat,
the king of Judah, sat each on his throne, having put on their
robes in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria.
And all the prophets, these 400 prophets, prophesied before them.
And Zedekiah, the son of Shanaan, made him horns of iron. He was
using visual aids to try to bring his message. He makes horns of
iron so he could really illustrate what is going on right now. He
makes horns of iron. Thus saith the Lord, with thee
shalt thou push the Syrians until thou hast consumed them. Now
the Lord never said that. But he says, thus saith the Lord. And all the prophets prophesied,
so saying, go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord shall
deliver it into the king's hand. They were unified in their message.
And the messenger that was gone up to call Micaiah spake unto
him, saying, behold, now the words of the prophets declare
good unto the king with one mouth. Let thy word, I pray thee, be
like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
Don't always be so negative. Go ahead and give him something
good that he wants to hear. Everybody else is, you do it
too. And Micaiah said, as the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith
unto me, that will I speak. Now all these false prophets
were Ahab's yes men. They would say whatever it is
he wanted them to say. And a true prophet like Micaiah
is only going to speak what the Lord says. He's not trying to
please men. He's not trying to win friends
and influence people. His only objective is to say
what the Lord says. And in this book, we call the
Bible, we have what the Lord says. You can listen to anybody
and judge whether what they're saying is what the Lord says,
because we have what he says in this book. And Micaiah said,
no, I'm not going to say anything but what the Lord says. May the
Lord give us that desire to say nothing and to hear nothing but
what the Lord says. Verse 15. So he came to the king,
Ahab, and the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go up
against Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall we forbear? And he answered
him in great sarcasm, go and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver
it into the hand of the king. Now he was being sarcastic. Here's what you want to hear.
I'm going to give it to you. You see, Ahab had experience
with this man, and he knew everything he said had been from the Lord,
and he could feel, I suppose, the sarcasm in what he was saying.
He knew he wasn't being serious. He knew he was being sarcastic.
And the king said unto him, verse 16, how many times shall I adjure
thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the
name of the Lord? I know you're just being sarcastic. Give me
the truth. And he said, I saw all Israel.
scattered upon the hills of sheep that have not a shepherd." In
other words, Ahab, you're gonna be dead. You go up, you're gonna
be killed, and all the people of Israel will be scattered without
a shepherd, because you're gonna get killed doing this. He's giving
him the truth of what the Lord had to say. And the Lord said, these have
no master. Let them return every man to his house in peace, And
the king of Israel said in Jehoshaphat, did not I tell thee that he prophesied
no good concerning me but evil? I told you he'd say something
like this. He was upset. And he said, and here the prophet
Mekhi says, and hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the
Lord sitting on his throne. Now I love that. Anytime you
see the Lord by faith, you will see him sitting Not pacing back
and forth. Sitting in regal, splendor, absolute
sovereignty, no worries. Sitting on the throne of complete
control. Sitting on the throne. Verse 19, he said, Hear thou
therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his
throne and all the host of heaven 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 Ramoth-Gilead?
This was all according to his purpose. Who's going to get him
to go up to Ramoth-Gilead so he can be slain? And one said
on this manner, another said on the other manner, and there
came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I'll
persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith?
And he said, I'll go forth, and I'll be a lying spirit in the
mouth of all his prophets. And he said, thou shalt persuade
him. Prevail also, go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold,
the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy
prophets, and the Lord has spoken evil concerning thee. Now somebody
says, would God do something like that? Yeah. Well, how could that be right?
Well, you're going to have to take that up with the Lord. Whatever he does is
right. I have no problem with this at all. This is the Lord's
judgment. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Thessalonians 2. I was listening to somebody on
this passage of scripture, and they said, you know, the Lord
didn't really say that. He wouldn't say something like that. of hyperbole
to try to make a point, and I thought, no, the Lord said this, just
like he did in 2 Thessalonians 2. Would you turn with me there? Verse 8, and then shall that
wicked be revealed from whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness and in the parish, because they receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for
this cause, because they receive not the love of the truth that
they might be saved. For this cause, God, shall send
them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they
all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure
in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now, they receive not
the love of the truth. And this is so important. It's
one thing to receive the truth. I see the Bible teaches that,
I gotta admit. There it is in plain words. Election, predestination,
I mean, can't deny it. There it is, I believe it. I
mean, I can't deny it. That's what the Bible actually
teaches. Yeah, but have you received the
love of the truth? Do you love that God chose a
people because you know you wouldn't be saved without it? Do you love
that Christ is a factual redeemer and anybody he died for must
be saved? Do you love that the grace of
God, the Holy Spirit is irresistible and invincible? Do you love the
truth? Do you love it that God has revealed himself in this
book and it's inspired by him? Do you love the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ and how he gets all the glory and salvation?
It's one thing to say, well, I see it teaches that, and it's
another to receive the love of the truth. Now, because these
people did not receive the love of the truth, God sent them strong
delusion. that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned. Now, that's the word of God,
and that's exactly what's happening here with Ahab, and God says
this. He says, you know, I've sent
forth a lying spirit into these 400 prophets of yours, and they're
not telling you the truth. Now, they're speaking in the
Lord's name, thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Lord, but none
of it's true. Verse 24. But Zedekiah, remember him? He's
the guy that had the horns, the iron horns, saying this is the
way you're gonna push them down. I guess he was the lead false
prophet. But Zedekiah, the son of Janiah, went near and smote
Micaiah on the cheek and said, which way went the spirit of
the Lord for me to speak unto thee? And Micaiah said, behold,
thou shalt see in that day when thou shalt go in into an inner
chamber to hide thyself. You're gonna see what I'm saying
so. And the king of Israel said, take Micaiah and carry him back
into Amnon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's
son, and say, thus saith the king, put this fella in the prison
and feed him with the bread of affliction, with water of affliction,
until I come in peace and I prove that these false prophets were
right. And I'm going to get this city
back and I'm going to come in peace. And he was wrong. And
you all are going to see this. Verse 28, Micaiah said, If thou return it all in peace,
the Lord is not smoking by me. And he said, hearken, O people,
every one of you. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the
king of Judah, went up to Ramoth Gilead. And the king of Israel
said in Jehoshaphat, I'll disguise myself. This is Ahab speaking
to Jehoshaphat. I will disguise myself and enter
into the battle, but put thou on thy ropes. And the king of
Israel disguised himself and went into battle. Now one wonders,
why did Jehoshaphat agree to this? I mean, Jehoshaphat's the
only one that's going to look like a king and who do you want
to kill the king? That's who everybody's mainly against. And
Ahab said, I'll disguise myself and just look like a regular
soldier, but you put on, keep your royal robes on. And he agreed
to do it for some reason. Verse 31, but the king of Syria
commanded his 30 and two captains that had the rule over his chariot
saying, fight neither with small or great, save only with the
king of Israel. He's the only one we want. The
Lord put that in his heart. Don't worry about anybody else.
Kill the king of Israel, kill Ahab. And it came to pass when
the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, surely
it is the king of Israel. And they were going after Jehoshaphat
then in his royal robes, and then they turned aside to fight
against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and I have no doubt
he was crying out to the Lord at this time. He knew he was
in trouble, and he was crying out to the Lord for protection.
And it came to pass when the captains of the chariots perceived
that it was not the king of Israel that they turned back from pursuing
him. Now here we have one of the most
beautiful pictures of gospel preaching we'll find in the scriptures. Look in verse 34. And a certain man, nameless,
nobody special. I love it that you're not even
given his name. A certain man, nameless, drew a bow at a venture. He just like that, not pointing
at anybody in particular, just going up into the crowd. He drew
a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the
joints of the harness. Now he didn't have any idea what
was going to happen. He was just shooting that bow
up in the air and he didn't, as a matter of fact, I don't
even know that he knew it hit Ahab. We don't know that, I mean,
we're just shooting it up in the air. He didn't know he was
going to be the man the Lord used to bring that arrow down,
but that arrow was a guided missile. He didn't know what was gonna
happen with it, but the Lord did. That arrow was a guided
missile to put Ahab to death, just like the Lord said. And
this is the preaching of the gospel. We shoot that Avenger,
We preach the gospel. We don't know what the Lord's
going to do with it. I always think it's kind of strange when
I hear preachers say, well, so-and-so was converted by this message
I preached. How do you know? How do you know it wasn't some
message that they heard years ago by somebody else that the
Lord just made it take root? I just, I don't feel comfortable
with that, what the Lord's done. We don't know. What we're doing
is we're preaching the gospel, shooting this vote of venture,
not knowing what the Lord's going to do with it. But the Lord knows. And every, he said, my word that
comes out of my mouth will not return unto me void. Everything he says is going to
accomplish his purpose. And I'm so fine with the fact
that I'll never know. We'll never know, but the Lord
does, and isn't that enough? And when he shoots his bow in
somebody's heart, it slays them, and they're made to see their
need of Christ, or it judges them, one of the two, but it
always accomplishes his purpose. I think that is so beautiful. And the battle, well, and a certain
man drew a bow at a venture, 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. And the battle increased that
day, and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the
Syrians and died at even. And the blood ran out of the
wound into the midst of the chariot. And there was a proclamation
throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying
every man to his city and every man to his own country, just
like Micaiah said it would be. So the king died and was brought
to Samaria and they buried the king in Samaria and one washed
the chariots of the pool of the Samaria and the dogs licked up
his blood and they washed his armor according to the word of
the Lord which he spake. Remember he said the dogs are going to
lick up your blood. Exactly what he said would take
place, took place. Now the rest of the acts of Ahab
and all that he did And the ivory house which he made, I think
it's interesting how that's pointed out. He made himself an ivory
house. He was obviously a very, a man who loved material things
and was wanting to increase his, because this speaks of his wealth
and his riches, this ivory house he made. And that usually goes
on with a false prophet, they go together. Now the rest of
the acts of Ahab and all that he did in the ivory house which
he made and all the cities that he built, are they not written
in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? Now Ahab,
his doom was predicted, and I think this is so significant. There's
a lot of reasons why the Lord could have put him to death.
A lot of reasons. I mean, he was a very wicked
man. He did so many horrible, evil things, but what was the
sin he committed that brought God's judgment upon him? Now,
I know that God could have judged him for any of these sins, but
the one that's pointed out is because he spared that which
the Lord had appointed to utter destruction. Salvation by works. Salvation by the flesh. And that's
what Ben-Hadad represents. He's the son of a false god,
the product of false religion. He spared this, he said, let's
spare this, and that is what the Lord used to judge him. You're gonna die because of your
sparing of this. That proves you don't really
believe grace, you don't really believe the gospel if you'll
spare that which is the product of the flesh. And I think it's
real interesting the way the scripture points out that he
was heavy and displeased. Like Cain, remember Cain? He
was mad at the Lord over his sacrifice being rejected. So
the Lord purpose is always gonna be done though. That bow-shotted
adventure is a guided missile by the Spirit of God to accomplish
his purpose, amen.