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Sermon 2019-08-11 Geoff Follas

GOD’S UNEXPLAINABLE GRACE – 1 Kings 21

This passage we look at this morning tells of an incident in the life of Ahab King of Israel. What kind of a man was he? v25 tells us that “No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord’s sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel.” 1 Kings 16:30 “Ahab did more evil in God’s eyes more than any King before him.”

The Bible doesn’t give us a lot of information about Ahab’s evil deeds but we do know that he introduced Baal worship into Israel with all its immoral and evil practices and he was determined to get rid of the worship of the Lord, this involved destroying the places where people worshipped the Lord and killing the Lord’s priests and prophets.

This morning we will look at the 5 individuals involved in this incident: Ahab, Naboth, Jezebel, Elijah and the Lord.

 

• AHAB’S SELFISH DEMAND

Ahab would have been the wealthiest, most powerful man in Israel at the time and yet he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted more and one day he was looking over his fence and saw his neighbours vineyard and he wanted that as well.

Isn’t it strange that so many of those who have immense wealth and possessions are never satisfied? They are constantly looking for ways to get more and bigger and better.

A news programme was recently talking about the net wealth of some of the world’s richest people. Jeff Bezos CEO of Amazon’s net worth is 154 billion dollars. Mark Zuckerberg Facebook 67 billion, Oprah Winfrey 2.6 billion dollars.  

Then we have these huge companies that swallow up smaller companies to have a larger share of the market and make greater profits. Over the past year, Google has bought out a company every two weeks

The Bible is so true when it says, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” And when greed grips your heart, your main concern is to hold onto what you have got and look for ways to get more even when you have more than enough to live comfortably on, even if you have to compromise your moral values in order to get more.

Leona Hemsley earned the nickname “Queen of mean.” She was a billionaire who owned many large building is NY including the Empire State Building. According to Time magazine, she emerged as a penny-pinching tyrant who tried to rip off just about everybody. No amount of money was too small to fight over. When her son died at the age of 40, she contested his will and won. His estate was only worth $149,000 dollars of which she gave $432.00 to each of his 4 children and $2,171.00 to his widow and kept the rest.

The Reverend Camping predicted that the world was going to end 22nd May 2011. What you may not know is that He managed to suck 100 million dollars out of his gullible followers over the previous 7 years and had no intention of giving it back when his prediction was proven to be false. It’s strange that at 89 he was still in the grip of greed.

In 1966 Paul Getty was named by Fortune magazine as the richest man in the world. He was so determined not to lose a cent of the money he owned that he even installed a payphone in the foyer of his mansion.

Ahab was the same. The wealthiest man in Israel and yet he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted more and so he went to his neighbour Naboth and asked if he could buy his vineyard.

Just word here for us Christians. We really have to guard against the world’s attitude towards wealth and materialism because many believers have been sucked into the pursuit of wealth and possessions and become more enthusiastic about acquiring wealth and possessions than following Jesus.

They get more excited about purchasing a new car or home or going on an overseas trip than they do about serving Christ and others.

Regarding material possessions Paul said, “I have learned in all circumstances to be content” But with regard to his spiritual life and growth he said, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of me.”

How many of us will say on our death bed, “I wish I had made more money.”

 

• NABOTH’S STEADFAST REFUSAL

Well Naboth refused to sell to Ahab because when God gave the land to the people of Israel He told them in Numbers 36 that they were not to sell the land God had given their family but keep it in the family and every 50 years if the land had passed out of the family hands it had to be returned to the original owners. No matter what Ahab said Naboth continued to say no.

Ahab became very angry and he went into his bedroom, threw himself on the bed and sulked like a child who couldn’t get their own way.

One of the main causes of anger is a blocked goal. When we can’t get our own way or something that we want.

I have seen this in supermarkets where a parent won’t let their child have some junk food. I’ve seen kids throw themselves on the floor and scream and yell, even attack their parents physically. Their goal was junk food and the parent blocked them from getting what they wanted. Some adults react even worse.

There are 2 basic ways we vent our anger. We either explode like the thwarted child or we depress the anger and it goes inward. When that happens we do what Ahab did and sulk and become resentful and withdraw.

There are many causes for depression but one common one is depressed anger because we didn’t get our own way or we didn’t get what we wanted.

 

• JEZEBEL’S SINISTER PLOT

Ahab’s wife Jezebel found him sulking on the bed and when she discovered why she got stuck into him.

“You’re the king of Israel and you’re allowing that little nobody next door to stop you getting what you want. Leave it to me, I’ll get you that vineyard.”

So she arranged to have false charges of blasphemy and treason brought against Naboth and these charges carried the death penalty, so poor old Naboth was executed and Ahab got the vineyard he wanted.

When our anger is the result of a blocked goal, there are 2 ways we can deal with it.

Remove the blockage. This is the way most people deal with it. 

At present Vladimir Putin’s hold on power in Russia is weakening. His popularity ratings have been steadily dropping. His goal of remaining in power is being threatened by rival political groups. So how is he dealing with it? At the built up to the local body elections in Moscow he has ordered the arrest of opposition political supporters and is charging them with disorderly behaviour. He is removing the blockage to his personal ambitious goal. 

I know of a church where there was a church member who wanted to be the pastor. He was on the church leadership and one evening at a leaders meeting he accused the pastor of adultery in the hope that it would remove the blockage to him attaining his ambition. Fortunately, he didn’t have enough evidence to make it stick. 

What do we do when someone or something prevents us from getting what we want? Do we fight, do we explode or sulk, stoop to dirty tactics, do we put the guilts on others, anything to get rid of the blockage? Jezebel used deceitful, dirty tactics to get rid of the blockage.

I would like to suggest a better way?

Review the goal

When something or someone prevents me from getting my own way, instead of venting my anger at the person or situation I need to bring the goal to the Lord and ask Him. “Is this goal I have been pursuing what you want for me or is it something I personally want for myself?”

“Help me to surrender this goal to you and to say from the bottom of my heart, Not what I want but what you want. Help me to trust you with it – if this is what you want for me, then I trust you to bring it about if it’s not then I release it to you.”

Sadly Jezebel was determined to get her own way and she was willing to do whatever it took to get it. But she was to pay a terrible price for getting her own way.

If you are a believer this morning and you are determined to get what you want, get your own way when deep inside you it’s wrong or you don’t have God’s peace about it, you are foolish if you go ahead.

You will find yourself trying to convince yourself it’s okay, you will be arguing with your conscience, or ignoring the inner warnings of the Spirit.

But you will live to regret it.

During the investigation into the Watergate scandal Richard Nixon’s Aide Jeb Magruder confessed “We talked ourselves into believing that we weren’t doing anything wrong, and by the time we were doing things that were illegal, we’d lost control.’

A Christian woman who wanted to marry a non-Christian man knew that the Bible says Christians should not marry non-Christians but she didn’t want to do what the Bible says and she went ahead and married this non-Christian guy. She soon found out she had done the wrong thing because she couldn’t talk to him about the Lord or spiritual things and he wasn’t interested and she began to feel so alone in the marriage and said, “I am more lonely now than I was when I was single.”

There is always a price to pay when we demand our own way and are not prepared to accept Gods’ way.

Israel in the wilderness God gave in to their demands but spiritually they dried up.”

There is always a price to pay when we go against God’s Word and our conscience and Ahab and Jezebel were going to find this out.

 

• ELIJAH’S SOLEMN TASK

God told Elijah the prophet to go to Naboth’s vineyard where Ahab was inspecting his latest acquisition. And God gave this message to Elijah to pass on the Ahab. “It wasn’t enough for you to kill Naboth, you had to steal his land as well. Because you have done this, dogs will lick up your blood at the very place they licked up Naboth’s blood.  Not only that but all your descendants will be wiped out and dogs will eat the body of your wife Jezebel.”

That was a very risky and courageous thing to say to the most powerful man in the country. And yet if Elijah hadn’t done it he would have been disobedient to God and irresponsible towards Ahab.

Probably the most difficult task a believer can do is to go to another believer who is doing wrong, point out their fault and warn them of the consequences of their behaviour.

There have been times I have needed to do this and I tell you, it’s the last thing I wanted to do. I would far rather have ignored it in the hope it would go away. I hate confronting people and I hate conflict and in myself, I would rather do anything to avoid this.

But if we really and truly love one another, sometimes the most loving thing we can do is to go to a fellow believer who is behaving wrongly and point out their fault and encourage them to deal with it.

The New Testament tells us that we should do this out of love for that person who is a part of our Christian family.

Matthew 18:15-17

15 “If your brother or sister is doing wrong, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have helped to restore them.”

Galatians 6:1

“Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.” 

In Ezekiel 33:8 God said to Ezekiel, “If I announce that some wicked people are going  to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths.” 

I think of two specific people in churches I have pastored who came to me and pointed out things that were wrong in my life. In both cases, it was very embarrassing and difficult because as a Pastor I should have been a better example. But I am so glad they confronted me because I needed to address these things and their courage forced me to do this and change my behaviour. Today I thank God for those people who cared enough about me and the cause of Christ do what they did.  

When we do this we are not judging or condemning each other. We are acting as responsible, loving caring brothers and sisters.

If I saw a friend swimming in shark-infested waters and thought to myself, “Its none of my business what he does. It’s not my place to judge or criticise his behaviour.” What sought of a friend would I be. If I truly love that guy I would warn him and urge him to come ashore.

When Elijah brought this hard message to Ahab, Ahab called Elijah his enemy. And when people who really love and care for us point out things that are wrong in our lives, too often we think they are judging, attacking and criticising us – so we view them as our enemies.

Elijah was not the enemy of Ahab. He was a courageous caring man who wanted God’s best for Ahab and for Israel.

 

• GOD’S SURPRISING RESPONSE

In verse 25 we read No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord’s sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel.

Ahab was considered the most evil king who ever ruled over Israel, but when he heard this message from Elijah he humbled himself before God, he wept and mourned over his behaviour and God withheld His judgment from Ahab.

How could God forgive such an evil man? What does this say to us about God? He is far more willing to forgive those who repent of their sins than He is to punish those who rebel against Him?

There is no one, no matter how bad and evil that God cannot forgive and restore.

At the Nuremberg trials after the 2^nd World War, the US Army Chaplain Henry Gerecke was appointed to meet with the 21 leading Nazi war criminals who were sentenced to death. At first, Henry didn’t want to because of the enormity of their crimes, but he agreed to meet with them one by one.

Of the 21 Nazi war criminals, 8 sought God’s forgiveness and received communion. One of the prisoners Wilhelm Keitel was supreme commander of the German armed forces. Keitel was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He had ordered the murder of thousands of military and political prisoners. He encouraged civilians to lynch allied airmen whose planes were shot down. He ordered his troops to deal ruthlessly with the Jews and helped organise the genocide of European Jews.

Henry visited Keitel in his cell a number of times and shared the Gospel with him. Keitel knelt on the cell floor and wept as he confessed his crimes and asked God to forgive him and put his faith and trust in Jesus to save Him. Henry stood with Keitel as the noose was placed around his neck and recited scripture as he breathed his last. Henry believed that Keitel was sincere and went to his death a genuine believer.

The same is true of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese commander who led the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 resulting in the deaths of over 2400 people. After the war, Jacob De Shazer, an American airman who was captured and tortured by the Japanese, led Mitsuo Fuchida to Christ. Fuchida went on to become an evangelist.

We might look at these war criminals and say, “How could God forgive them after all the suffering they have inflicted on others? It’s not fair it’s not just.”

The full force of God’s judgement should be poured out on their sin. It was. At the cross, Jesus took the full force of God’s judgment for their sin and yours and mine. Justice has been carried out, the sentence has been served and we are free. This is the unexplainable Grace of God.

Romans 5:20 “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.”

The truth is that it doesn’t matter how far you have gone away from God or how deep you have sunk into sinful behaviour, you are not beyond God grace, God’s willingness to forgive, cleanse and restore you. “Whoever comes to me I will never reject.”

Wonderful grace!