Would you turn to 1 Kings 20. Beginning in verse 35, 1 Kings
20. And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said
unto his neighbor, in the word of the Lord, smite me, I pray
thee. And the man refused to smite
him. Then said he unto him, because thou hast not obeyed the voice
of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me,
a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed
from him, a lion found him and slew him. Then he found another
man and said, smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him so
that in smiting, he wounded him. So the prophet departed and waited
for the king, by the way, speaking of Ahab, and disguised himself
with ashes upon his face. Now you picture in your mind,
this man has been smitten. Maybe he has dried blood on his
face. He has ashes on his face. He
is trying to keep from being recognized. If Ahab recognized
him as a prophet of the Lord, he may have been in trouble.
But that's why he wanted this man to smite him, so he wouldn't
be recognized. Now let's go on reading. And
the king passed by, and as the king passed by, he cried unto
the king and he said, thy servant went out into the midst of the
battle. And he indeed looked like a man who had been in a
battle. Thy servant went out in the midst of the battle, and
behold, a man turned aside and brought a man unto me and said,
Keep this man. If by any means he be missing,
then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay
a talent of silver. And as thy servant was busy here
and there, he was gone. The man I was supposed to be
watching was gone. And the king of Israel said unto
him, So shall thy judgment be. Thyself has decided it. And he
hastened and took the ashes from his face. And the king of Israel
discerned him that he was of the prophets. And he said unto
him, thus saith the Lord, because thou has 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
and came to Samaria. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
with thanksgiving. Lord, we're so thankful for the
salvation that's in your son. Lord, we ask for your spirit
that you would be our teacher. and that you would reveal your
gospel to us, reveal thy son to us. Lord, give us grace to
look to him only. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. Accept our praise and thanksgiving through
thy son and forgive us of our sins for his sake. In his name
we pray, amen. Now last week we saw the relationship
between being hated and Ahab as a type of the sinner coming
to Christ. But here we see where Ahab is sparing Ben-Hadad and
it's going to cost him his life. He is going to be killed because
he spared this man. Now, Ben-Hadad was the one that
God had appointed to utter destruction. Look in verse 42. 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. Now, Ben-Hadad's name means son
of a false god. And that's what he represents.
He is a son of a false god. He represents that which is begotten
of that which is false. Now think about that, that which
is begotten, that which is derived, that which comes from, that which
is false. And God had appointed him to
utter destruction, and Ahab had spared him. Now let me remind
you about Ahab. Turn to 1 Kings chapter 16, verse
30. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did
evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.
And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him
to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took
his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbael, king of the Sidonians,
and went and served Baal and worshiped him. And he reared
up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which had been built
in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove. Ahab did more to provoke the
Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that
were before him. He was the worst one. Look in 1 Kings chapter
21. Verse 25, this is the summary
of his life before his death. But there was none like Ahab.
First Kings 21, verse 25, 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. And he did very abominably in
falling idols according to all the things as did the Amorites
whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. Now he
was the most wicked man, I suppose, up to this point, that they had
ever seen, this King Ahab. And he says regarding Benhated,
look in chapter 20, 1 Kings chapter 20, he says regarding this man,
and we looked at this last week, verse 32, so they girded sackcloth
on the lorns and put ropes on their heads and came to the king
of Israel and said, thy servant, Benhated, saith, I pray thee,
let me live, And he, Ahab, said, is he yet alive? He is my brother. This man who is the son of a
false god, he is my brother. I find an affinity with him. And he refused to destroy him.
He refused to put him to death. And God said, because of that,
you will lose your life. Now, back to verse 35 of 1 Kings
chapter 20. And a certain man of the sons
of the prophets said unto his neighbor, and I believe that
this was another prophet he was speaking to, he was a part of
the sons of the prophets, the prophets were his neighbor, he
was close to him, and this man should have known that he ought
to obey what this man said if the Lord said to do it. You see,
he wanted to come in disguise, and so he tells this man, smite
me, smite me, and I mean smiting hard, you know, to where he looks
wounded, the other fella did, What did the fellow say? He said,
smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite
him. Now, he said, do this in the word of the Lord. And the
man rejected it. Then said he unto him, because
thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon
as thou art departed from thee, a lion shall slay thee. And as
soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him and slew
him. Now, people look at the Old Testament
and they say, well, this is why I don't believe them. Bible's
word of God because of things like this. Well, you've got a
problem then. That's all I can say. You've
got a problem then. This is the inspired, inerrant word of God. And the man should have done
what the prophet told him because he said this in the word of the
Lord. And he didn't do it in a lion slewing. Now, I might
have had a hard time doing that too. But if I did, the lion would
slay me too. This is part of scripture. Verse
37. Then he found another man and
said, smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him. I wonder
if he knew what happened to that other fellow. I don't know. But
I guess I might have been more apt to smite him if I found out
that the lion would eat me if I didn't do it. So the man smote
him so that in smiting him, he wounded him. So the prophet departed
and waited for the king, King Ahab, by the way, and he disguised
himself with ashes upon his face. Now he looked like he'd been
in battle, perhaps dried blood on his face with ashes smeared
all over his face, and you couldn't really recognize who he was.
And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king and he said,
thy servant went out into the midst of the battle. And he looked
like he'd been in a battle with that wound. And behold, a man
turned aside and brought a man unto me, and said, keep this
man, this is your responsibility, keep this man, guard him, make
sure he doesn't get away. If by any means he be missing,
if he be destroyed, if he get away, if he's killed, then shall
thy life be for his life, or else thou shall pay a talents
of silver. Verse 40, and as thy servant was busy, here and there. How many people are busy? I'm
busy. I've got a lot of things to do.
I am just overcome with busyness. Well, he was too busy to do the
one thing he needed to do, protect the man or lose his life. And
he says, I was too busy. I was busy here. I was busy there.
I had all kinds of responsibilities, all kinds of things I needed
to look to. I was busy. And as thy servant
was busy here and there, he was gone. That man I was given the
responsibility of keeping, he's gone. I was just so busy, I didn't
see what happened. And the king of Israel said unto
him, so shall thy judgment be, thyself has decided it. And then
the prophet hasted and took the ashes away from his face. And
the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.
And he said unto him, thus saith the Lord. because thou has 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. Now that won't happen
for about another three years, but it happened exactly as the
prophet said. And the king of Israel went to
his house heavy and displeased and came to Samaria. Now, The judgment pronounced
upon him was because he spared that which God had appointed
to utter destruction. He demonstrated his utter disregard
for God in his actions. Now this brings up a great spiritual
principle. Here it is. God is God. Glorious in holiness. fearful in praises, doing wonders. God is God. And there are things
that this glorious God has cursed. This is who he is. And there
are things that he has cursed. Now, there's also his blessing. Let's don't forget that. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Now, people talk about God's blessing. Well, I've got
a new car, house, health. God's blessing me. Not necessarily. Maybe under his curse. His blessings
are spiritual blessings. They're eternal blessings. And that is the blessing I need
to have. I want to show you some scriptures
from Numbers chapter 22. I want us to see what is said
about God's blessing. You remember when Balaam is asked
to curse Israel, beginning in verse 14 of Numbers 22. Verse 11, rather. Behold, there's
a people come out of Egypt, which covers the face of the earth.
Come now, curse me then. Peradventure, I shall be able
to overcome them and drive them out. And God said unto Balaam,
thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse the people,
for they are blessed. If God has blessed you, you cannot
be cursed. Look in chapter 23, verse eight. How shall I curse whom God hath
not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the
Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks
I see him, from the hills I behold him. Lo, the people shall dwell
alone, talking about Israel, and shall not be reckoned among
the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob and the number
of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous
and let my last end be like his. Look in verse 19 of this same
chapter. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son
of man that he should repent, hath he said, and shall he not
do it? Hath he spoken, it shall not
be good. Behold, I've received commandment to bless, and he
hath blessed, and I can't reverse it. He, now look at this blessing,
he hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. The Lord, his God is with him,
and the shout of a king is among them. Now we see the power of
God's blessing. Oh, I want this blessing, don't
you? But this same God who blesses also has his curse, the curse
of God. There really is a place called
hell. That's a horrible thought, isn't it? There really is a place
called hell. His displeasure, his wrath, and
his judgment. Now, the first curse we read
of in the scripture is where he cursed Satan. Remember that
after the fall, Satan had tempted the woman and he cursed Satan. He said, you're going to be on
your belly forever. And I, I don't know this, I guess
this is conjecture, but I don't think he was a serpent when he
first started deceiving Eve. He was a beautiful being. He
wasn't a snake on the grass or the, you know, you see the snake
popping his head out of the tree talking. Maybe it was, but I
don't think so because he was cursed afterwards to be on his,
belly the rest of his existence, but God cursed the serpent for
tempting Eve. And then the next curse we read
of is where God cursed the ground. Remember that? Adam, you're gonna
have sorrow all your days. God cursed the ground. Everything that came out of that
ground was under God's curse. And then we read of Cain being
cursed. He brought the fruit of the ground
that God had already cursed. That's a man bringing his works.
I don't care how good they seem to you, they are all under the
curse, whether you see it or not. Every work of a natural
man is under the curse. He's bringing to God that which
God has already cursed. Cursed be the ground for thy
sake. And Cain came into God's presence, trying to seek God's
favor and God acceptance with his own works, the fruit of the
ground that God had already cursed. Cursed be Cain. Now listen to
me. Any attempt that you or I make
to bring God our works and think we can gain acceptance because
of it. It's under God's curse. Think of that chapter in Deuteronomy
27, where we have all these curse it be, curse it be, curse it
be, curse it be, curse it be. You can read that in Deuteronomy
chapter 27. The last curse reads, Turn that on. The last curse
reads like this. Cursed be he that confirmeth
not all things written in the law to do them. Now, if I don't
have a continual perfect righteousness before the law of God, I am under
God's curse. And that's a solemn thing to
think about, but it's so. If I don't stand perfect before
the law of God all the time, continually, I'm under God's
curse. Somebody says, that's too strict. Once again, you've got a problem
then. You've got a problem because this is who God is. You know,
there are two types of people in this world. It's always that
way, you know, the righteous, the wicked, the saved, and the
lost. But there are two types of people in this world, those
who have kept God's law perfectly. perfectly. And those who say
they're trying to keep it, but really all they do is break it.
Those are the two types of people. And Christ kept the law perfectly. Everybody in him kept it perfectly.
Everybody in him is under God's blessing, blessed. And everybody
outside of him is under God's curse. Perhaps you remember Joshua
chapter 7. I think this is so interesting. Israel is defeated by a little
town called Ai. A little town. And Joshua was so upset, he comes
back to the Lord and says, why has this happened? You can read
about this in Joshua chapter 7. Why has this happened? And
the Lord replies to him, because you've got the accursed thing
in your camp. The accursed thing. Does anybody
know what that accursed thing was? It was called a Babylonian
garment that Achan had stolen and kept and hid in his tent,
and a wedge of gold and a wedge of silver, but a Babylonian garment.
Now, what is Babylon? You remember Genesis chapter
11? Babel. When they took man-made bricks,
man-made works, man-made bricks, and made a tower that they thought
would reach to heaven. This is defiance. This is man's
attempt at religion. This is man's attempt at reaching
God with the bricks he has made. Look, we'll make it all the way
to heaven. It's representative, it was an
act of defiance, but it represents salvation by works. The Babylonish
garment, the covering that you can come into God's presence
with your own works. And Israel was cursed for that,
and it wasn't until they got rid of that, Achan was stoned
because he had it. And the only way they could stand
before their enemies is if they didn't have the accursed thing,
the Babylonian garment. Turn with me to 1 Samuel 15.
We looked at this, I don't know how many months ago. Samuel also said unto Saul, 1st
Samuel 15, this is before David came on the scene. Samuel also
said unto Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king
over his people over Israel. Now therefore hearken thou unto
the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of
hosts. I remember that which Amalek
did to Israel, how he laid weight for him in the way when he came
up from Egypt. Now, This is hundreds of years
later, now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that
they have and spare them not, but slay both man and woman,
infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass, kill everything
that has anything to do with Amalek. Now you know the story. He didn't do what God said to
do. He preserved the best. He preserved the best, and he
spared Agag, the king of Amalek. You know what Agag's name means? I will overtop. I will overtop. What is it that
men spare with regard to man? True, he's sinful, but what do
they spare? I will." Free will. He's sinful, but he still has
a free will and so on. That's what Agag represents.
They spared the best of the sheep and they spared King Agag. You
know that Samuel, after he was confronted by it, went ahead
and hacked him to death. It's something that God had appointed
to utter destruction, the flesh. the flesh, man's ability to do
anything in his own salvation. This is what God has appointed
to destruction. Listen to Jeremiah 17.5, Cursed be the man that
trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm. Then we read in Jeremiah 48.10,
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully. Well,
that's scary. Cursed be he that doeth the work
of the Lord deceitfully. I was telling Lynn this morning,
I thought, boy, I'd like to go listen to somebody else. I mean,
in the sense that just the burden of, I don't want to do something
deceitfully. Another thing I told him this
morning, I said, I'm either the most deceived deceiver alive,
or I'm telling the truth. That's an awesome thing to think
about. That scares me to death. Cursed be he that doeth the work
of the Lord deceitfully. He's under God's curse, under
God's displeasure, under God's wrath. But let's look at one
other curse in Galatians 3. Verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law, now that means you believe that salvation is in
some way dependent upon you. That's what that means. Be it
ever so small, some part of salvation is dependent upon what you do. That's the works of the law. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. For it's written, and this is
that passage from Deuteronomy 27, Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it's evident. For the just shall live by faith. And the law is
not a faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, Now look
at this next statement, being made a curse for us. For it's written, cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who ever experienced the fullness of God's curse. The reason hell is eternal is
the death of the sinner can never satisfy the justice of God. We murdered his son. Now you
take any of your children that you love Could somebody, if they
murdered them, brutally murdered them in wickedness, could they
come up to you and say, I'll give you so much money, will
you be satisfied? No. You could never be satisfied.
And that's why hell is eternal. God's justice cannot be satisfied.
But when Christ was made a curse, the sins of God's elect became
his sins so that he became guilty of them. He became guilty of
the commission of them. That's why God killed him. But
he satisfied God's justice when he was made a curse. And now
there is no curse for the believer because he was made a curse. And I don't even know what all
that means. I mean, I'm trying to talk about stuff like that. What
do you know? I mean, you're just talking about
stuff that you really don't grasp. Yep, you're right about that.
I don't, but I believe. I might not grasp, but I believe.
Because he was made a curse. No curse for me. No curse for
any believer. Nothing but blessing.