Would you turn to 1 Kings chapter
21? Let's pray together. Lord, we ask for your presence
and for your help for your grace, for your favor, for Christ's
sake. We pray that you'd speak to us
from your word and give us grace to worship thy dear son. Forgive
us of our sins for Christ's sake. And Lord, accept our thanksgiving.
We're so thankful for who you are. We're so thankful for your
glorious attributes. Lord, we bow down in worship.
and thank you for the revelation of yourself. I bless us for Christ's
sake, in his name we pray, amen. Now let's look in verse 42 of
chapter 20. And he said unto him, thus saith
the Lord, because thou hast 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,
Ahab, went to his house heavy and displeased, resentful and
angry and vexed. He was mad over what the prophet
said to him. Now, the prophet had told him,
this should be for utter destruction, and you've spared it. And he
was angry over this. So let's look in verse 20, chapter
21. And it came to pass after these
things that Naboth, the Jezreelite, had a vineyard, which was in
Jezreel, hard by the place of Ahab, king of Samaria. And Ahab
does what people do quite often when they're displeased. He wanted
to buy himself something. How often does that happen? Everything's
not going well, so you're going to purchase something to make
yourself feel better. And he saw a vineyard right by
his house. Verse two, and Ahab spake unto
Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it. for a garden
of herbs, because it's near unto my house, and I will give thee
for it a better vineyard than it, or if it seem good to be,
I'll give thee the worth of it in money. Now, on the surface,
this doesn't seem bad, does it? You've got this vineyard, I want
it. I will give you a better vineyard for it. You know, Ahab
was king, he had a whole lot of property. I'll give you a
better vineyard for this, or if that doesn't sit well with
you, I'll give you the fair market value. Now that seems okay. One problem with it. God forbid
the children of Israel to sell their property. It was all appointed
to them in the book of Joshua. There was a, Commandment in numbers,
never sell your property. It gives a picture of God's gift
to Israel. He said, I'm giving you lands
and houses and vineyards that you had nothing to do with it.
I'm giving you these freely. Now, if an Israelite had become
bankrupt, and had to do something about his property. You could
sell it to somebody in the tribe, but they had to give it back
to you during a jubilee. So what he was asking him to
do was strictly forbidden in the law. This has something to
do with grace. God gives what you have, God
gives it to you freely. You can't buy it, you can't sell
it, you can't lose it. Isn't that wonderful? I mean,
it's yours eternally. And what Ahab was doing was showing
a complete disregard for this rule, this commandment in the
law. Verse three, and Naboth said
to Ahab, the Lord forbid it me. that I should give the inheritance
of my fathers unto thee. This was a commandment that I
have been forbidden to break. And I can't help but think that
somehow he had some understanding, the Lord forbid me to give it
to you. You're the one that, you're not gonna get this. Now,
look at Ahab's reaction, verse four. And Ahab came into his
house, Same way he was after the prophet gave him that previous
message in the last chapter. Heavy and displeased. Heavy means stubborn, rebellious,
resentful, and sullen. He was angry. He didn't like
this. And heavy means raging, angry,
and vexed. Ahab wasn't sorry. He had no
repentance. He was just mad. over him not
getting his way. And Nahab came into his house
heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the
Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, I'll not give
thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid down upon his bed
and turned away his face and would eat no bread." He started
pouting. That's what he did, he started pouting. He just got
in bed, looked at the wall and was just displeased with life
in general and the way things are coming, and he's pouting.
Verse 5, But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him,
Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? Now I can
almost hear the way he replied. And he said unto her, because
I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, give me thy
vineyard for money, or else, if it please thee, I'll give
thee another vineyard for it. And he answered, I'll not give
thee my vineyard. He's so upset and sad that he's
not getting his way. And I think it's interesting
that he didn't really give the reason, he just said he wouldn't
give it to me. He didn't give the scriptural reason that it
was forbidden to sell your birthright. It was forbidden to sell that
which the Lord had freely given to you. It wasn't for sale, he
didn't tell her that part. Verse seven. And Jezebel, his
wife, said unto him, Dost thou not govern the kingdom of Israel?
Now wait a minute, Jezebel did. Ahab was king, but she pulled
the strings, and she told him what to do. But listen to her.
Dost thou not govern the kingdom of Israel? Rise and eat bread,
and let thine heart be merry. I'll give thee the vineyard of
Naboth that Jezebel liked. She was gonna find a way to do
this. So look at her methodology. And she wrote letters in Ahab's
name. This was deceitful. And sealed them with his seal
and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that
were in the city dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the
letter saying, proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among
the people. Now isn't this what religion
does? Sets men up. sets them up on
high, makes them think good of themselves. I mean, I bet Naboth
was thinking, I like this. He's set up on high. I don't
read where he complained about this. And then in this letter,
she said, set two men, sons of Belial, wicked men, worthless
men before him to bear witness against him saying, thou didst
blaspheme God and the king. and then carry him out and stone
him that he may die. Now, number one, since when does
she care about whether or not God's blasphemed? She doesn't
care, but she's going to use the scriptures and she's going
to say things that are true in a false context. The scripture
does say that somebody that blasphemes God and the king should be stoned.
It does say that, and it uses two witnesses. Two witnesses
have to see this. The witness of one is not enough.
So she's using things in the Bible in order to get her way. Anybody can do that, can't they?
You can use the scriptures to try to prove your point. That's
what she's doing. She's using the Bible in a wicked
context to get her way. And that is the way, be fearful
with regard to the scriptures. Don't use the scriptures, and
this scares me to death, don't use the scriptures to promote
yourself. Don't do it. But that's what she was doing.
She shows a wicked disregard for the word of God when she
does this. Verse 11, and the men of the city, even
the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants of his city,
did, they thought this was Ahab's command, but they did as Jezebel
had sent unto them. Like I said, she's the real ruler
of the kingdom. She pulls the strings. They did as Jezebel
had sent unto them, and it was written in the letters which
she had sent them. And they proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high
among the people. And there came in two men, children
of Belial, and sat before him. And the men of Belial witnessed
against him, even against Naboth in the presence of the people,
saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried
him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones. that
he died. Then they sent to Jezebel saying,
Naboth is stoned and is dead. We did what you want us to do. It's all taken care of. And it
came to pass, verse 15, When Jezebel heard that Naboth was
stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, arise, take possession
of the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, which he refused
to give thee for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it
came to pass when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose
up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, to
take possession of it. He got what he wanted. Verse
17, and the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.
Elijah, you know that he hasn't seen Elijah for seven years. It's been seven years since that
time of Mount Carmel. He hadn't heard from Elijah,
hadn't seen him, and I think it's really neat. Every time
you read of Elijah, all of a sudden he just appears. No background,
all of a sudden, here's Elijah. And the word of the Lord came
to Elijah. And that's what a true prophet
is. He has the word of the Lord come
to him, and that's what he speaks. And that's what Elijah does.
Verse 18. Here's the word of the Lord.
Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria.
Behold, he's in the vineyard of Naboth, whether he has gone
down to possess it. You know, well, everything that's
going on, the Lord sees. He sees. He sees everything. Verse 19, And thou shalt speak
unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and
also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, in the place where the dogs lick
the blood of Naboth, Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. This is the message you're going
to give him. You're going to die, and the dogs are going to
lick up your blood. Now, Elijah comes into the vineyard,
and look at Naboth's automatic response. or Ahab's automatic
response. And Ahab said to Elijah, hast
thou found me, O mine enemy. Now that's how he considered
him, his enemy. Really, Elijah was the only true
friend he had. He told him the truth. But he
considered him his enemy. He hated the message of the Lord. You go back into the next chapter
that we'll consider next week. He talked about Micaiah, the
prophet. He said, all he does is speak
bad concerning me. He doesn't have anything good
to say. None of God's prophets did. But he didn't repent, showed
no remorse. He just considered him his enemy. Has thou found me, O mine enemy? And he, Elijah, answered, I have
found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in
the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon
thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from
Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that shut up
and left in Israel, and I'll make thine house like the house
of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha,
the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked
me to anger and made Israel dissent. Now he says, I'm going to make
you just like Jeroboam's house. Do you remember Jeroboam? He's
that man who was afraid that him being the king of Israel,
everybody would go to Judah. and offer sacrifice, and he set
up two different places where you could, he said it's too much
trouble for you to go all the way to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice.
He set up two different places, Dan and Beersheba, and said you
can offer there. And that way they wouldn't, he compromised
the gospel in order to help himself. And 17 times we read of this
as the sin that other sins are measured by. the sin of Jeroboam,
and God cut off all of his descendants so he wouldn't be king. And this
is what's gonna happen to Ahab. You're not gonna have any descendants
at all. I'm gonna cut you off. And of Jezebel also spake the
Lord, saying, The dog shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the
city, the dog shall eat. And him that dieth in the field
shall the fowls of the air eat. Now look at this description
of Ahab. But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself
to work wickedness. Now before you get too hard on
Ahab, remember what Paul said about himself. He said, the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, Sold under sin. Now here's the description of
Ahab, but it's the description of me and you by nature. Sold
under sin. Sold yourself to work wickedness. You know what this means? This
means my sin and your sin is all our fault. We willingly put
ourselves in this position. It's all our fault. My sin, I
can't blame God's sovereignty. I can't blame my circumstances.
I can't blame your provocations. No, not at all. My sin is all
my fault. So is Ahab's. He sold himself. Yes, God's in control. Yes, God's
the first cause behind all things. He really is sovereign, He really
is God. With regard to my sin, it's all
my fault. Now until you take personal responsibility
for your sin, until I take personal responsibility for my sin, I'm
not gonna ask for mercy. The only time you ask for mercy
The only time you cry for mercy is when your sin is all your
fault. Now that's Ahab. But there was none like Ahab,
which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the
Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. Oh, he was so influenced
by this woman. And he did very, that'd make
it not his fault, yes? evil communications, corrupt
good manners. There's no question about that. And she had a horrible
effect on him. And he did very abominably in
following idols, according to all the things that the Amorites
did, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. This
is how wicked this man was. Nobody liked him. Now it came
to pass, when Ahab heard these words, that he rent his clothes, put
sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth,
and went softly. Now, he heard these words of
judgment, and he had enough experience with Elijah to know that what
Elijah said would take place. And he was upset. He rent his
clothes. He walked softly. He no longer
walked in this arrogant, cocky, proud way. He was scared. When
the prophet gave this message, he thought, this is gonna happen
to me. And he was scared. And he walked softly. The air
came out. He was no longer this cocky,
I'm gonna get my way, pouty person. He was scared. He was showing
some remorse over what was going to take place. Verse 28, And the word of the
Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth
himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before
me, I will not bring the evil in his days. He's not going to
see his sons killed. It's going to happen after he's
already dead. I'm not going to bring the evil in his days, but
in his son's days will I bring this evil upon his house." Now,
is this repentance? It's a good question, isn't it?
Is this repentance? I'm not gonna do this evil in
his day, I'm gonna bring it in his son's days because he's humbled
himself before me. Because he's rent his clothes,
is this true repentance? Now first, let me remind you
what repentance means. Repentance means a change of
mind. Your mind has been changed. It's
something that God gives, All of the elect, repentance toward
God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, your mind has been changed.
You no longer look at things the way you did. You have a different
view of God, a different view of yourself, a different view
of salvation. That's repentance, a change of
mind. Now, here Ahab Oh, he's so upset. He knows that whatever Elijah
says ends up taking place. He had no love for Elijah, and
he's just upset over what God says is going to happen. The
dogs are going to lick up my blood. The dogs are going to
eat my wife. He is upset. And the Lord says,
look how he humbles himself. Everything God said would take
place with regard to him did take place. The dogs did lick
up his blood where he was killed. We're going to read that in the
next chapter. Jezebel is eaten of dogs. That's what happened
to her. She was carrion for them. So
the Lord's word did take place. He didn't see his sons killed
the way the Lord said he would have first, but the Lord's word
did take place. He did have this judgment, but
he had no repentance because if you look in this next chapter,
he goes back to the false prophets again. He goes and consults 400
of them. And he had no sorrow over leaving
the, remember the Lord said, you've saved that which I devoted
to utter destruction. And that's more than anything
else, that's salvation by works. He saved that. And when God said
you're gonna die because of that, he didn't repent, there was no
true change of mind about what he thought, he was just angry.
He was angry over this issue with, Naboth's vineyard, he thought
it should be, no true repentance, no genuine change of mind. He
didn't rebuke Jezebel for what she'd done. There was no change
of mind. Now, that being said, what is
true repentance? I could not ask a more important
question than that. Because we see a form of repentance
with Ahab that seems real. I mean, he was sorry and he was
sorry over the things that are going to take place with him.
But there was no genuine sorrow toward God. No sorrow with regard
to who he was. No true change of mind. What
is true, genuine repentance? What does it look like? What
does somebody do when they truly repent? True repentance is when
you look solely to Christ and make no claim of any past,
present, or future merit. That is repentance. And until
you and I look to Christ only, oh, may I say that the way it
ought to be said, Until you and I looked to Christ only and nowhere
else, we've had no repentance. You see, faith and repentance
always go together. They're two sides of the same
sheet of paper, the two sides of the same coin. Repent and
believe the gospel. Change your mind concerning all
those stupid things you believe about God, about yourself, and
about salvation, and look to Christ only. May God give me and you the grace
to do that.