answered, I've not troubled Israel,
but thou and thy father's house in that you have forsaken the
commandments of the Lord and thou has followed Balaam. Now,
therefore, send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel
and to the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of the groves
400. And look at this next phrase,
which eat at Jezebel's table. I just saw that again. Which eat at Jezebel's table,
not at Ahab's table, but Jezebel's table. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and we're so thankful for the salvation that's
in Him. We're so thankful that all you
require of us, you look to Him for. And Lord, we look to Him
for all you require of us. We're so thankful for the revelation
of your person, for the excellency and glory the salvation that's
in your son. We pray that he might be exalted,
that our sins might be forgiven and cleansed in his blood. Lord, enable us to hear from
you. Be with all your people wherever they meet together.
In Christ's name we pray, amen. Verse 17, and it came to pass
when Ahab saw Elijah, He said unto him, Are you he that troubles
Israel? We see who was getting the blame. And he answered, I have not troubled
Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that you have forsaken
the commandments of the Lord, and you followed Balaam. Now
therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel,
and the prophets of Baal 450, and the prophets of the groves
400, which eat at Jezebel's. Elijah knew who was running the
show, Jezebel. Ahab was a weak man under the
control of his wicked wife, Jezebel. Turn to 1 Kings 21 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." You see, she
was behind everything that Ahab did. It was Jezebel who encouraged
Ahab to pursue Baal worship, and she's the one who tried to
silence gospel preaching. Look in verse 4 of chapter 18. This is Obadiah speaking, and
he says, Now Jezebel, her name is mentioned in the Lord's letter
to the church at Thyatira. Remember that? He said, You suffer
that woman Jezebel, to teach. Now was her name really
Jezebel? I don't know. I kind of doubt
it. Would you name your daughter Jezebel? That name is associated
with infamy. But she demonstrated the spirit
of Jezebel. And I think it's very interesting
that false religion is presented in the scripture under feminine
allure. Now let me show you that in the
scripture. Turn to Proverbs chapter 5. Look in verse 3. For the lips of a strange woman
drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. This is talking about preaching,
really. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged
sword. Her feet go down to death, her
steps take hold on hell. Lest thou should ponder the path
of life, her ways are movable. that thou canst not know them.
And you can go on and read that. Look in Proverbs chapter six,
verse 24. To keep thee from the evil woman,
from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Now you say,
why would you say that's talking about religion? We'll go into
Revelation chapter 17 and the mystery of Babylon. It's a woman,
a harlot. And we're gonna look at that
in a moment, but that is how religion is presented as Babylon.
But look in verse 24, to keep thee from the evil woman, from
the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman, lust not after
her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids,
for by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of
bread, and the adulterous will hunt for the precious life. Look
in chapter seven, beginning in verse five. that they may keep thee from
the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words."
Now this is talking about preaching, really. Flattering human nature,
making it to be something that it's really not. For at the window
of my house I looked through my casement. Behold, among the
simple ones I discerned among the use of man void of understanding. Passing through the street near
her corner, and he went her way to her house. In the twilight,
in the evening, in the black and dark of night, behold, there
met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, subtle of heart. She's described in Revelation
17. And I don't have the time, but read through the rest of
that chapter this week if you want to, but turn to Revelation
17. Verse one. And there came one of the seven
angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto
me, Come up hither, I'll show thee the judgment of the great
whore that sits upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth
have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried
me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman
set upon a scarlet-collared beast full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and the filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery. This is something we would never
have known had not God made it known, Babylon the great, the
mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman
drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus. And I saw her and I wondered
with great admiration. Look down in verse nine, and
here's the mind which hath wisdom, the seven heads are the seven
mountains on which the woman sitteth. Now, a lot of people
have, and there may be something to this, Rome sits on seven hills,
and some people have used this as the Catholic Church being
the great harlot. I think it's all works religion.
I don't think it's just the Catholic Church, but I mean, if you think
of some of the teachings of the Catholic Church, and I never
really thought about this, I know you've thought about, you've
heard of purgatory, how you can be punished for your sins in
purgatory and then get out after so much time, so many people
praying for you and so on. But do you realize that just
the belief in purgatory is a denial of the sufficiency of the atonement
of Christ? That's all it is. It's saying
his blood is not enough to save. That's just one of many works
doctrines that are found in the Catholic Church, but I think
every denomination, every denomination is simply a child of this great
harlot. And without doubt, religion is
this woman spoken of. Now with that in mind, turn with
me to Revelation chapter two. We're gonna read about Jezebel. Verse 18. And unto the angel of the church
in Thyretira write, These things saith the Son of God, who hath
his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine
brass. I know thy works, and he commends
them, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience,
and thy works, and the last shall be more than the first. Notwithstanding,
I have a few things against thee, Because thou sufferest, you allow
that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach
and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication and to eat
things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent
of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her
into a bed, and then to commit adultery with her into great
tribulation, except they repent of their deeds, and I will kill
her children with death. And all the churches shall know
that I am He, which searcheth the reins and hearts, and I give
unto every one of you according to your works." Now, this woman
was allowed in this church to preach. Now the Bible forbids
that. Somebody says, well, that's sexist,
that's chauvinistic. No, it's not. Women are no worse
or better than men. Men are no worse or better than
women. And there's no male and female in the kingdom of God
anyway. There's neither male nor female. You're all one in
Christ Jesus. Christ is all. And really, every
one of God's people are the female. We're the bride of Christ. He's
the head. But let me show you in the scripture
where this is forbidden. Turn to 1 Corinthians 14. And
any time you hear of a woman preaching, and she called herself
a prophetess, they all do, it's still forbidden in the scriptures.
Look in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34. Let your women keep silence in
the churches. For it's not permitted unto them
to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also
saith the law. And if they will learn anything,
let them ask their husbands at home. For it's a shame for a
woman to speak in the church. First Timothy chapter two. Verse 11. Let the woman learn in silence
with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to
assert authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam
was first formed and then Eve." Now, like I said, I realize people
will consider this chauvinistic and people have made all kinds
of accusations against Paul. He was a male chauvinist and
so on, and he didn't give women their proper due. I think women in the scripture
are actually more heroic than men. I mean, you look at the
cross, who was there with the Lord? Who had fled away? All the disciples. So this is not putting women
in some kind of negative light, but this is God's protocol. This
is God's way, and if there's a problem with it, the problem
you have is with God. Now Christ is rebuking the church
for allowing this to happen. There was a spirit of toleration.
They were allowing this woman to preach. Now what is behind
a spirit of toleration, allowing something that the scripture
clearly forbids? Lack of love. Lack of zeal. That's it. Lack of love to the
Lord. Lack of zeal. That's where the spirit of toleration
comes from. She calls herself a prophetess.
You know, Ahab was controlled by Jezebel. I think it's so interesting
how he talks about those false prophets sitting at her table,
not Ahab's table, although he was the king, but at her table. And notice what it says she does
in verse 20. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against thee because you suffered that woman Jezebel.
which calls herself a prophetess to teach and to, what's the next
word? Seduce, seduce. Now this was going on in a true
gospel church. There was somebody there who
was seeking to seduce the people of God and she seduces them into
two things, two things, fornication and eating things sacrificed
to idols. Now, what is fornication? Fornication is sex, intimate
relationship between a man and woman outside of the marriage
covenant. It's that simple. sex outside
the marriage covenant. Now, God made sex. Don't forget that. And what a
beautiful gift to illustrate his relationship with the church,
a man and woman becoming one in the covenant of marriage.
And it's a beautiful gift of God in marriage. I love what the writer of the
Hebrews said, marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. Now that's scripture. Don't ever
look at sex as a dirty thing in the marriage covenant. Turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Verse one, now concerning the things
wherever you wrote unto me, it's good for a man not to touch a
woman. And that's talking about intimate
relationships. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication,
let every man have his own wife and every woman have her own
husband. Let the husband render unto the
wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
The wife hath no power over her own body, but the husband. Likewise,
also the husband has no power over his own body, but the wife.
Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent, for
a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come
together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
Now, we are to, by God's grace, be sexually pure. It is never okay to have sex
outside of the marriage covenant. Adultery is forbidden. It's just
wrong. Teach your kids that. Teach your
kids that. It's just wrong. And it's what
the scripture teaches. May the Lord give us grace to
be sexually chaste in every aspect. Don't you think it's beautiful
to see a man and woman that have remained faithful to each other
over the years? Never being unfaithful. That's beautiful. And so much for what? Fornication's
wrong. Amen? That's not what the Lord's
talking about. He's not talking about physical
fornication. He's talking about finding some
kind of satisfaction, some kind of assurance, some kind of salvation
outside the covenant of grace. He's talking about spiritual
fornication, spiritual adultery. I think of what David said. He
said, although my house be not so with God, yet have he made
with me an everlasting covenant. There's that covenant, that everlasting
marriage covenant. ordered in all things and sure,
and this is all my salvation. This is all I get comfort from.
This is all I rest in. Just what he did for me in this
eternal covenant. And anything outside of this
covenant is spiritual fornication. It's spiritual adultery. And that's what he's talking
about. This woman is seducing my servants to commit fornication,
that's her agenda. And that can be going, can that
be going on in a true church? Of course it can, of course it
can. And may the Lord deliver us from
Jezebel. But here she is trying to seduce
God's servants, God's people into spiritual fornication and
to eat things sacrificed to idols. Now, why does the Lord say this? Because Paul lets us know that
this is a matter of indifference. You go into the meat market and
something has been used for a sacrifice to a pagan god, and there the
filet mignon is, or the T-bone steaks, or whatever. And you
say, well, I can't eat that because it's been used in pagan religious
worship. Paul says, it's OK to eat it.
It's OK to eat good meat and you're not better if you don't
eat it and you're not worse if you do. Look in First Corinthians
chapter 8 and this is also addressed in Romans chapter 14 but a whole
chapter is addressed to this. First Corinthians chapter 8. Now as touching things offered
unto idols we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs
up. But charity builds up, edifies. And if any man think that he
knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But
if any man love God, the same is known unto him, of him, as
concerning therefore the eating of those things which are offered
in sacrifice unto idols. We know that an idol is nothing
in the world and that there's none other God but one. He doesn't
have competing gods. He's the only God. For though
there be many that are called gods, whether in heaven or earth,
as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but
one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we in Him, and
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.
Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge, for some
with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered
to the idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. But meat
commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the
better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. But take heed,
lest by any means this liberty of yours, you know it's okay
to eat meat sacrificed to idols, becomes a stumbling block to
them that are weak. For if any man see thee which has knowledge
set at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him
which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered
to idols? And through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother perish,
for whom Christ died?" Now that's not saying he'll go to hell.
That's saying that he's going to go against his own conscience
through watching your conduct. But when you sin so against the
brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I'll eat no flesh
while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."
So we see how this issue is addressed. There's nothing wrong intrinsically
with eating meat sacrificed to idols. Now, if your brother thinks
there's something wrong with it, and you don't care anything
about him, and you go ahead and eat anyway, and he's offended,
or you shouldn't do it. I mean, Paul says that. So what
is the Lord's point when he says, you encourage my servants to
eat meat sacrificed to idols? Now, once again, this is symbolic. Jezebel was saying nourishment,
spiritual nourishment, can be derived from that which is really
nothing more than idolatry, false religion, works religion. Jezebel is trying to encourage
spiritual nourishment from works religion, and she's always going
to be doing that. That's her agenda, is to get
me and you to find some kind of good in that which is false. Now, let me give you an example
of what I'm talking about. A religious institution, I'm not gonna call
it church, because it's not a real church, but a religious institution
that doesn't stand for the Bible being God's word, God being God,
absolutely sovereign, men being dead in sins, God electing a
people. Christ dying for the elect and
accomplishing their salvation. God's grace saving. It can't
be defeated. It can't be resisted. God's people
will persevere all the way to the end. Now what Jezebel will
do is say you can get spiritual nourishment from something that
is not that. You can derive benefit from it. No you can't. That's what the
Lord is saying. No, you can't. That is Jezebel. That is works religion. And she
was trying to say, you can eat things sacrificed to idols. And
you know, anything that's not the truth is idolatry, isn't
it? Anything that is not the truth of the gospel, the truth
of scripture is nothing more than idolatry. And she is saying,
Well, you can eat that stuff and you can benefit from that
stuff. It's good for you. It may be wrong in some areas,
but it's right in some areas and you can benefit from that.
No, you can't. Look what the Lord says, verse
21, I gave her space to repent of her fornication. The Lord
gives space. And she repented not, verse 22,
Revelation 2, 22, behold, I will cast her into a bed. And then
they commit adultery with her and do great tribulation, except
they repent of their deeds. And look at verse 23, I will
kill her children with death. Now that is the end of that kind
of thinking. The Lord says, I will kill her
children with death. Does that mean he's gonna kill
them on the spot? No, I think he's talking about spiritual
death. You know, there's a time when the lights go out, and if
you think that you can derive any kind of benefit from that
which is idolatry, the Lord says, I'll kill her children with death. That's strong language. But this
is the way false religion is presented under fornication and
eating things sacrificed to idols. spiritual adultery, and there's
a strong appeal to the flesh in this. You know, I think of
false religion being presented in this feminine appeal of Jezebel,
or of the woman in Proverbs, or how about how beautiful the
woman looks in Revelation chapter 17. John says, I admired her. I admired her beauty, and the
angels rebuked him for it. Why are you admiring her? But
that is the appeal of false religion. Once again, this is not a men
or different than, well men are different than women, everybody
knows that, but it's not talking about some kind of chauvinistic,
it's presenting the danger of this fleshly appeal of human
religion. And Elijah knew who was pulling Ahab's
strings. He talked about those 850 false
prophets. He didn't say they're sitting
at your table. He said they're sitting at Jezebel's table. May the Lord give us discernment
to see what He says in His Word.