1 Kings 22:1-28 | The Whole Truth

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

You can open your Bibles at the passage we read, 1 Kings chapter 22.

1 Kings 22 · chapter mention

A very interesting passage, a lot happening there.

I'm certainly not gonna plan to unpack everything there, but if you want to go a little deeper and uh figure out some of the more complexities of this chapter, come to Scooter Society tomorrow morning at 8.05 a.m.

The story today is about truth tellers, truth tailors, and truth tramplers at the threshing floor of the gates of Samaria.

A few months ago, I had the privilege, as a new citizen of the United States of America, to sit on a jury bench.

When the selection came, I'm like praying, God, please choose me.

And everybody else probably was praying, God, please do not choose me.

I wanted to figure out how the American justice system works.

I've seen it on TV and I'm like super excited about this.

And sure enough, a lot of it is just like it is on TV.

Do you swear to kill the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I heard those words over and over.

Ad nauseum to some extent.

Not just truth, but speaking the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The title of my message this morning is The Whole Truth.

And it's loosely based on 1 Kings 22, 16, where King Ahab says to Micaiah the prophet, How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?

Human beings naturally have a hard time with speaking the whole truth.

And receiving the whole truth can be painful.

Just think of it.

Just think of it for a moment.

How many times have you withheld the whole truth from somebody simply because you fear how they will react?

It's the case with me.

I've often, am I gonna tell them everything here because they're gonna be mad at me?

We fear the whole truth.

We fear speaking it, we fear receiving it.

How many times has someone given you the whole truth and you react poorly and you remain upset at that person for days to come?

But as Christians, we are called to holistically be truthful in all aspects of life, especially in the body of Christ.

Because speaking and receiving the truth actually fosters our Christian growth.

There we go.

Click the back.

There we go.

Ephesians 4 15 says, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up.

Truth and love go hand in hand, truth and growth go hand in hand.

As Christians, we are called to be truthful by speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to each other lovingly.

But when we are not loving one another, we tend to not speak the whole truth to one another.

Truth and love are like two peas in a pot.

Truth and love are like sunshine and water to peas in making it grow and taste sweet.

So why do we hold back speaking the whole truth to one another?

Is it because we fear alienation or retaliation?

Why do we have such a hard time with speaking the whole truth lovingly?

Today's passage in 1 Kings 22 is a story, like I said, of truth tellers, truth tellers, tailors of truth, and truth tramplers.

You will see each one of those personalities.

It will give us a little glimpse into how people handle truth.

Some speak it, others tailor it, and others trample it.

And most of the time, people trample it and tailor it to get what they love.

Ahab, the king of Israel, loves power, he loves wealth, he loves success.

And that is why he says in 1 Kings 22, verse 3, if you read along there with me, I'm gonna not exposite the entire passage for us because there's 28 verses there, but I'm gonna zoom in on some of the things that I think is worth looking at in more detail.

1 Kings 22:3

1 Kings 22, verse 3.

1 Kings 22:3

Do you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us?

And we are still doing nothing to take it out of the hand of the king of Aram.

In the ESV, it speaks about Syria.

The king of Israel, Ahab, he's a bad guy.

He needs the help of a good guy, King Jehoshaphat of Judah.

He needs it to reclaim Ramoth Gilead.

From the outset, this is an unholy alliance.

Jehoshaphat is a worshiper of Yahweh, and now he partners with King Ahab, who is a serial idolater.

And you may want to ask at this point, what partnership is there between darkness and light?

Jehoshaphat agrees to join Ahab in the fight to reclaim Ramoth Gilead, because they both can get what they love.

This was a strategic area in the northeastern part of Israel.

It was controlled by the Syrians and on a major trade route.

And if you're on a major trade route, you can collect what?

Tariffs.

Nothing's changed.

And Jehoshaphat is all in.

He says, I am in verse 4, I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.

He's all in on this partnership.

But by the mercy of God, Jehoshaphat pumps the brakes a little bit before going all in.

Verse 5, he says, please inquire first for the word of the Lord.

He says, let's just consult God.

I'm in, but let's just kind of get confirmation from God.

We tend to do it, right?

We commit and then we say, God, could you just kind of guide us here?

But nevertheless, King Ahab gathers Israel's finest prophets in the service of the Lord, quote unquote.

Not just one or two prophets, but he gets a whopping four hundred prophets.

To answer a very specific question, verse six.

Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall I refrain?

Shall we go do this or shall we not?

Simple yes or no.

In unison, all 400 prophets sing the same chorus line, verse 6.

Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

I'm not sure if they had the tone, but they said, God's with you, bro.

Go do it.

Two thumbs up from God.

God will bless you, King Ahab.

Jehoshaphat, the righteous king of Judah, observes this prophetical spectacle and smells a rat.

He knows all too well that these 400 prophets might be in the service of the Lord, but they do get their paycheck from King Ahab.

So Jehoshaphat says, Is there in verse 7, is there not yet a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him?

It's like, is there just somebody else we can consult?

Just like somebody else.

And now Ahab cringes and he reluctantly concedes to consult a very obscure prophet by the name of Micaiah.

Verse 8.

There is one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.

He is Micaiah, the son of Emla.

He obviously has a bit of a distaste for this guy.

So let's see how things turn out and what we can learn from this story about the tailors of the truth and the tramplers of the truth and the tellers of the truth.

I think this is an amazing story and a historical event in ancient Israel's time that just shows that we as human beings, uh, we're not comfortable with the truth.

We're not comfortable speaking the truth, and we're not comfortable receiving the truth.

But if we can learn a few things here today, I think it will prove helpful and it will help us navigate truth and people in a way that honors the Lord.

Let's look at the tailors of truth.

Tailors of truth.

There are 400 prophets here, and they're all speaking on behalf of who?

The Lord.

And unanimously they give Ahab the green light to go ahead and take back Ramoth Gilead.

Look at verse 12.

All, notice, all the prophets were prophesying.

This saying, go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

Thomas Constable offers insightful thoughts here.

He says the desire, their desire was to give their king the kind of advice they thought he wanted to hear.

This would please him and would favor them.

So there's some back scratching going on.

They know if they tell Ahab what he wants to hear, it will turn out good for them.

What we will learn from this is that uniformity and conformity does not always mean accuracy and truth.

Simply because people often tailor the truth to pacify people.

Here's a deceptive unity, a universal back scratching of some sorts.

You see, the prophets themselves, we learn later on, they are deceived and they are accustomed to deceiving other people, especially the kings.

They are what I would call tailors of truth.

They tell the truth, but they tailor it to such an extent that it fits that person's desires and need.

They take the truth, tailor it to make it more palatable and tolerable.

And not only that, in this deceptive unity, they are not welcoming of any dissenting voice.

Micaiah is the unfortunate dissenting voice here, and he is soon buttered up into this deceptive unity.

Look at verse 13.

So these 400 prophets, they're like, all in agreement, God is with you, King Ahab, go conquer Ramoth Gilead.

And Jehoshaphat says, No, get another prophet.

Here comes a lonely prophet, a singular prophet.

They call him, they actually bring him out of prison.

And on the way there, I guess it's a messenger or could be one of the prophets, and this is what he says.

Verse 13.

And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, Behold, the words of the prophets are with one accord and favorable to the king.

Let your words be like the word of one of them and speak favorably.

He's like, Listen, you dude, don't be a dissenting voice here.

Here are 400 people on an agreement.

You don't stir the pot, you don't rock the boat here.

But here in this culture of pleasant get-alongism and this culture of togetherness for the sake of unity, not truth, is very deceptive.

You see, unity without truth will paralyze the moral inertia of the people of God.

You see, in our own time, the stream steamrollers of pleasant get-alongism has flattened the mountains of truth into the plains of unity.

You see, people are accustomed, like in the time of Israel, to speak what people want to hear, not necessarily what is true.

Psalm 12, verse 2 speaks of these tailors of truth.

Psalms 12:2

The psalmist says they speak falsehood to one another with flattering lips.

The idea there is oily lips, just like butter.

With flattering lips and with a double heart, they speak.

They know what is the right thing, but their hearts divided because if I say something, it's gonna upset this person.

If I say something that is true and the whole truth, it's gonna not only deceive people, but it's gonna make them happy if I do deceive them.

But on the other hand, they also know they are being wrong.

But God warns Jeremiah.

And he speaks to Jeremiah and he says, speak to them all that I command you.

Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them.

Jeremiah 1.17.

And what God is saying there to Jeremiah is stop looking at the grins on people's faces.

Whether they frown or smile, you speak what I tell you to speak.

If we preach and if we teach and if we speak to one another only to get nods and smiles, we gotta ask ourselves, in whose service are we?

Christians will often hold back speaking the whole truth simply because they want the nods and smiles and the approval of people.

But a warning to you, my dear brothers and sisters, if you want the approval of people, the nods and smiles and affirmations of people, but you may stand opposed to the approval of God.

God says, He who denies me, I will deny.

Luke 12, 9.

A similar warning given to Jeremiah on Jeremiah 1.17.

If you if you deny me, I will deny you.

You know, Christians are often pleasers of men rather than pleasers of God, and they will tailor the truth as to not offend.

We live in a culture of nice, right?

So uh what's it scott?

The 11th commandment is, thou shalt be nice, right?

Uh I think I would credit you to that saying.

I'm just giving due credit.

Don't want to be a plagiarist here.

But Christians are called to be truthful, yet loving, speaking the truth lovingly.

Ephesians 4, 15.

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ.

You see, speaking the truth and being loving are not opposites.

They are synonymous, but not in our minds, not in the world's minds.

We are perceived, we as Christians, we tend to be fearful.

We are fearful of being unloving or not nice.

Well, we can't say this that we tuppy-toe around things and we beat around the bush because we want to be loving and we say nothing.

But Romans 12, 9 says, let love be without hypocrisy.

So, in other words, if you're not completely truthful to the person, you're not being completely honest, you're not being loving.

Period.

Because love is without dissimulation.

Love and speaking, tailored truth, or is an oxymoron.

You can't say I'm loving, but I'm holding back truth here.

That's the antithesis to love.

But you have to deal with people like King Ahab.

He is repelled, he's appalled by truth.

He tramples truth like swine.

He tramples sacred truth.

Let's look at the tramplers of truth like King Ahab.

And I almost want to throw King Jehoshaphat into the mix here, but I'll be gracious with him for now.

Matthew 7, 6 says, Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before the swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

Here is how people could potentially respond to truth, whatever truth you give them.

There are people in this life who are truth trampling swine, or even people like Ahab, who is a ravenous dog who will tear you apart if you do dare speak the whole truth.

There was a pastor in Belgium who was, I think, sentenced to a year for preaching truth.

People will tear you apart often if you dare speak the whole truth to them.

Well, let's take King Herod's wife.

She had a real disdain for the truth speaking of John the Baptist.

And uh she had him in prison, and what happened to John the Baptist?

Yeah, he got decapitated.

The Jews had an intense distaste for the truth speaking of Jesus Christ.

They trampled his words and they had a thirst for his blood.

John 8.40.

John 8.40 it says, but as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.

Jesus is simply relaying the message he's hearing from God, and they want to do what?

Kill him.

What happened to do not shoot the messenger?

Right?

Pew, pew, pew.

I'm just the delivery guy.

Paul was hated by the Judaizers for speaking the truth about the sufficiency of Christ's work on the cross.

And he was telling them, look, your law-keeping and your circumcision is a big old zero.

It's worth nothing.

And this is how they respond, Galatians 4, 16.

So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth.

Here's one thing we need to understand in life that if we dare speak the whole truth to people, you will often become their enemy.

And that's what we fear as Christians.

I don't want to be anybody's enemy.

But I also don't want to be the person who denies Christ and be fearful of speaking the truth in love.

Let's go back to Aab and Micaiah's world here for a moment.

1 Kings 22.

The king of Israel said to Josh, Yet there is one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him.

Why does Ahab hate Makiah?

Simply, because he does not prophesy good concerning me but evil.

What he is saying is, this guy never gives me a pat on the back.

He never affirms my plans.

He always says, my plans are off.

So he hates him.

He puts the guy in prison, by the way, for telling the truth.

And he labels him as what?

An evil person.

He does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.

He's an evil guy.

He's better to be served in prison, like John Bunyan.

1 Kings 22, 18.

Then the king of Israel said to Joshua, Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?

This guy is so intent on thinking whatever comes out of Micaiah's mouth is just from the pit of hell.

This is just bad stuff.

Because it doesn't accord to my desires, hopes, and dreams.

And you see, dear brother and sisters, do we often fuss when we hear things that do not accord to what we think it should or should not be?

You see, for Ahab, good meant flattering and pleasant words, even though it may be tailored truths.

For Ahab the king, truth meant evil.

Love meant lies.

See, it's flip-flopped with Ahab.

For Ahab and the rest of Israel, truth was trampled.

Truth was considered hate speech, not love speech.

Isaiah 30 verse 10.

Isaiah 30:10

Who say to the seers, this is now the people of Israel, who say to the prophets, you must not see visions.

And to the prophets they say, you must not prophesy to us what is right.

Speak to us pleasant words.

Prophesy illusions.

What's that?

What does the ESV say?

Does it say smooth words?

Right?

It's got something like this, like smooth words.

Listen, you dude.

Don't come and tell us what we need to hear.

Tell us what we want to hear.

Make it pleasant.

Butter it.

Put some sprinkles on it.

Make it go down for us easy.

We don't care if it's just a figment of your imagination.

We don't care if it's false things.

It just needs to be good.

You don't have to travel far in today's time to find a pulpit that will just give you just that.

Pleasant words, but illusions.

But this is not only pertaining to the pulpit, my dear friends.

It pertains to you and I, who is, who talks to another brother and sister, and we hear something very appalling, very twisted, very perverted, and we say nothing.

Right?

Because we want to be known as people who say pleasant things all the time.

Though it may sometimes teeter on being deceptive and being yes men.

You see, Ahab surrounded himself with yes men and ear ticklers.

It would only speak to him pleasant, be as it may, deceptive words.

Are we comfortable around deceptive words?

Do we tune the radio and we listen to deceptive words?

Do we hear something being said by a brother or a sister in Christ and we go, ouch, I don't like to hear that.

Shut him out, let's go somewhere else.

That's what Ahab did.

Ahab would shut Micaiah up in prison because his word was confrontational and convicted.

We should not shy away from words that are confrontational and convictional.

Proverbs 27, 5.

Drop this one down, dear brothers and sisters.

Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

Some translations say the kisses of an enemy is deceptive.

Yeah, somebody is gonna give you like smooth words.

Just tell you what you want.

That's deceptive.

That's deceptive.

But sometimes a friend will wound you by his trusted words.

My friend, do you prefer the kisses of deception above the wounds of truth?

Do we respond like Ahab towards those who simply tell us the truth and nothing but the whole truth?

Do we always want people to affirm our ideas?

Or have we become intolerant of someone who has a different idea?

As Christians, we're called and we ought to be able to receive correction, reproof, and training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3.16.

And we need to be able to do it without a defensive posture.

How many times?

I mean, I I would include myself in this equation.

Yesterday my my wife said something to me, and she's like, and immediately I got defensive.

I mean, you know, when you drive, all of a sudden you drive a little faster.

Break heart.

I didn't like the truth that was given.

And I had to work at my heart.

We are to be able, as believers in Jesus Christ, people who have the Holy Spirit, to receive correction, reproof, and training on righteousness without being defensive or responding with hate.

King Ahab, the King of Israel, Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, were sitting there at the threshing floor of Samaria on their thrones, arrayed in royal robes and regalia.

Verse 10.

Sitting there, and Micaiah arrives, the prophet, he's clothed in tatters, probably chained, stands as a solitary prophet, a dissenting voice, but a tiller of truth.

But he stands between two foolish kings who does not know how to take advice.

Ecclesiastes 4 13 is once again hear Solomon's wisdom.

Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.

Jot that one down.

Next time somebody gives you advice, you're like, hmm, forget it.

He's an idiot.

What does he know?

He's old.

Or he's a youth.

He's poor.

Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.

Here is at least one king dressed in royal splendor, and he does not know how to take advice.

Are we like these foolish kings in our royal robes and our fancy outfits and our fancy cars?

But we cannot take godly advice and truthful counsel?

Do we even seek it?

Do we even seek it?

So many times I find people, they come and see me, they're like, oh, my life's a mess.

Okay, what did you do?

I did this, did this, this.

But did you ask anybody for advice before you did this?

No.

Well, my wife said something, but I just went along.

Okay.

You like a foolish king.

I like your fancy car, but now that you can't pay for the thing, you know, you should have thought about this.

Should have thought about asking somebody.

Let me ask you three questions.

Do you seek advice?

Godly advice, trusted advice.

Do you even want it when you get it?

And number three, do you trample it or receive it?

We need more truth tellers in our life who convey the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

As truth tellers, in the presence of truth tramplers, we may risk our lives and we might be standing alone and speaking for God, just like Micaiah, who stood alone speaking for God.

How often are we in a scenario where obviously you're something off here, something is wrong, and you got six Christians in the room, and nobody says anything.

1 Kings 22, 14.

Micaiah, his arm is being twisted.

Micaiah, don't you be now the truth teller.

Tailor that truth a little bit so that you don't rock the boat here, bro.

And 1 Kings 22, 14.

But Micaiah said, as the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I shall speak.

This man is a truth teller, and he will tell you the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Micaiah will not compromise in speaking the truth as the Lord lives.

What the Lord says to me, that I shall speak.

Are we people who say, as the Lord lives, that's what I will say?

And be as it may, I'm the lone person in the room who speaks up and says, What is truth?

Micaiah is asked a very straightforward question here, but he takes a detour in answering.

And this is fascinating, friends.

1 Kings 22, 15.

When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?

This could be a simple yes or no.

Simple yes or no.

But the prophet takes a little bit of a detour, and I wonder why.

And hopefully I can tell you why.

He's being very strategic here, the prophet.

I mean, he's taken a lot of beatings by King Ahab.

He's probably, like I said, standing in chains, clothed in tatters, the lonely prophet.

And he answers Ahab in an ironical way.

Listen how he answers him.

Go up and succeed, and the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

Huh?

What's he doing?

He's reciting.

He's reciting the exact words of the false prophets.

This is deceptive prophets.

He's like, yeah, go ahead.

Two thumbs up from God, three green lights, ready to land the plane.

I find it ironical and somewhat comical, but I think he's not being deceptive by pre-stating deceptive words.

What Aab does, he just jumps at it.

He's like, I told you, this guy's gotta prophesy nonsense.

You're he doesn't tell the truth.

He doesn't even listen.

Point proven.

Why does Micaiah simply restate the false words of the deceptive prophets?

He says there, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramath Gilead or shall we refrain?

Question?

And he answered him, go up and succeed, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

Why does he say that?

Well, Pastor Ron Matun makes a very interesting observation.

He says, Aab said he wanted to know the truth, but he really didn't.

His mind was already made up.

And he was going to do what he was going to do.

You see, Aab was not really wanting to hear.

He's only pleasing Jehoshaphat.

He's only doing it to please Jehoshaphat.

But his mind is made up.

He is going to go to battle, and nobody's gonna talk him out of it.

And my friend, that reminds me so often, so often, of what I do and what I see and what I observe in people, even the people of God.

You see, they have a crisis in their lives or something that they need some direction on, and they're unwilling to go seek advice.

Be as it may, it's often the guys.

I'm not gonna ask no guy for advice.

And the wife goes, No, you are.

And she kind of just kind of pushes him on.

Okay, finally I'm gonna get advice.

And the guy goes, seeks the pastor, go a friend, he seeks advice from him, and you know what he does?

He does the exact same thing that his wife tried to dissuade him from doing.

He does the next dumb thing.

Why?

Because, like Ahab, they are council shoppers.

Have you ever met a council shopper?

They go to like five different people and ask them the same thing, and then they do the exact opposite thing of what all five people told them.

That's because their minds are made up.

The way that Ahab should have responded here to those first line of words from Micaiah was to say, great! That's what I wanted to hear.

Thank you, Micaiah.

There's a little change in you.

Maybe that time in prison did you well.

You see, he blurted it out.

He just blurts it out.

Look at verse 16.

Then the king said to him, How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?

He's like, Did you listen to what the guy said?

Obviously not.

Obviously not.

Have you done that?

Somebody still just explaining something to you, interrupting.

He's like, No, that is not that way.

I do it.

I do it.

He didn't even listen.

He just jumped in.

You see, I told you, this guy can't speak the truth.

He's a liar.

He's a fibbing prophet.

Clearly, Ahab was not paying attention.

He was not ready to be reproved, corrected, or trained into right in righteousness, but he was the fool of Proverbs 18, verse 2.

Proverbs 18:2

He was not paying attention at all and proved himself the fool of Proverbs 18, 2.

A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind.

Have you ever had people they ask you for advice?

But they don't.

They just talk and talk and they go, okay, uh, are you asking me or are you telling me what you're gonna do?

And then they leave.

And they like feel so affirmed.

I did at least ask.

At least I asked.

The whole but sobering truth is about to be revealed in verse 17.

But before Ahab could hear sobering and wholesome truths, Micaiah had to make the point that Jeremiah 38, 15 speaks about.

And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.

Are you at that point, my friend, where no matter what people tell you, you're just gonna do what you gotta do, no matter what.

Be careful.

Be careful.

My pastor in South Africa, I was a young believer.

I said to him, Yeah, I'm just praying for an open door.

And uh the pastor said, God will often give you an open door, but remember, beyond open doors, they could be elevator shafts.

And said, We gotta be careful.

Ahab wanted an open door, and he was gonna get an open door whether he's gonna just force that door open.

But there's an elevator shaft waiting for him to his destruction.

Verse 17.

So he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep, which have no shepherd.

And the Lord said, These have no master.

Let each of them return to his house in peace.

What is Micaiah saying to him is giving him the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

You gotta die.

The shepherd, the master, the boss, the king, you gotta die.

You are going to die.

Okay, let's take a vote here.

What time is it?

Is there time for a vote?

Not really.

But who says AF goes?

Okay, I'm not gonna do this.

Put up your hand.

Oh.

Who says he is gonna just do what he wants to do?

No matter what, he's gonna do it.

You see, Micaiah spoke the truth in love, out of love and concern.

He gives the truth.

But what happens?

The king is mad.

Ahab is mad.

Verse 27.

Put this man in prison and feed him sparingly with bread and water until I return safely.

He's like, okay, you thought it was bad in prison?

I'm gonna put you on a diet.

High carbs.

Yeah, low carbs.

Low carb diet here, with a little bit of water.

Why did Micaiah risk his life?

Well, truth be told.

Truth-telling does involve risk.

Let me warn you about that.

Truth-telling might often find yourself, man or woman, alone standing in the room.

What's the ratio between deceptive prophets, truth-tailoring prophet, and truth-telling prophets?

The ratio is one to four hundred.

At least here it's one to four hundred.

And he was going to lash out against Micaiah.

He did not get any affirmation or confirmation, but he got the contrary.

He was dead set on going into battle with Syria, despite the words of the truth teller.

The truth teller does not shut up.

And you know, he's like, okay, you're going back to prison.

Time to shut up here, but he doesn't.

Verse 28.

Magaya.

I don't know how he said it, but he's like, if indeed you return safely.

Like, if you re if you return safely.

You think you are, but you're not.

And if you don't, then God is true, and my words are true.

If you do, then I'm a false prophet, and God can be trusted.

Verse 28.

If indeed you return safely, the Lord has not spoken by me.

And he said, Listen, all you people.

And he's trying to get their attention.

And maybe he said the first part, like undertone, and the last part he's like, listen, listen, take heed.

And often you need to kind of maybe give somebody a wake-up call, but it's not gonna help King Ahab.

Ahab is like the words of Paul spoken in 2 Timothy 3 7.

Always learning and ever able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.

Ahab had countless exposures to the truth.

Did you know in the Bible?

There's five chapters devoted to King Ahab?

Five.

We should learn something from that.

The more we think Ahab is a horrible man, the more we need to see ourselves as King Ahab's.

Always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, my friend.

How many times have you put your foot in the doors of a church and you leave here with no relationship with the living God?

How many times will it take for you to come into the house of the Lord to hear the gospel preached to you and you go home unrepentant?

My words to you is that words of Micaiah.

Listen, listen.

You are on a dangerous trajectory because God will harden your heart.

God will harden your heart.

The words of Micaiah wounded the pride of the foolish king.

But nevertheless, his words were spoken out of deep concern and true love.

He could have shut up and said nothing and went home and cooked some ribs.

But instead he went back to prison for speaking the truth.

As a lonely truth teller, my friend, truth may be spoken in love.

And it might indeed hurt someone's feelings and even bruise their pride.

But truth can spare them from greater pain and greater sorrow.

The sharp arrows of God's discipline, my friend, inflict much greater pain than the pain of truthful words.

His pride was wounded, he was angry, the words he heard was not words of affirmation, but words of pain.

But much greater pain will come his way.

The discipline of the arrows of God.

Yeah.

Our story here illustrates something about how people respond to the truth.

Some will respond to it favorably, some won't, some will trample it, some will receive it.

But nevertheless, what's your duty as a believer to another person?

Romans 13, 8.

Owe nothing to anyone except to love.

Except to love one another.

If you love somebody, truly you will speak truth lovingly.

Truth and love are not opposites.

Let's close with these words of Matthew Henry.

What evil did Micaiah prophesy to Ahab in telling him that?

If he proceeded in this expedition, it would be fatal to him.

The greatest kindness we can do to one that is going in a dangerous way is to tell him of his danger.

Micaiah loved on Ahab.

And he did it even to his own hurt.

My friends, let's think of these uh verses here.

Sorry, let's just click back one slide there.

Oop, I messed it up.

It's time for me to close.

James 5, 19.

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

You should not owe anybody anything here but to speak the truth and love to them.

Why did Jesus go to the cross?

Why did Jesus die on the cross?

Because you and I have a problem with speaking and receiving the truth.

That's why he went to the cross.

To pay for all our tippy toeing and beating around the bush.

That's why he went to the cross.

And the Bible says, well, if we are guilty, where do we turn to?

Not our own ways, we turn to the cross.

Turn to Christ.

Turn to Christ.

He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins.

And if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and yesterday or the day before you responded poorly when somebody gave you the whole truth, or you tippy-toed and beat around the bush and not tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, know that you have an advocate who intercedes for you.

Go to the throne of grace in the time of need, my friend.

Speaking the truth in love is a hard thing.

I will not deny that.

It's hard.

For pastors, it's hard.

It's for any believer, it's hard to speak the truth in love.

But we have Christ and we have the Spirit of God indwelling in us, and we can in his strength.

Let me pray for us.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your love, your care and compassion, and that you laid your life down for us.

You spoke the truth in love so that we may hear the gospel.

We heard the hear the bad news that we are condemned and we stand as sinners before an angry God.

But this angry God gives us mercy and grace if we turn to his son and behold Jesus Christ, who was on the cross but rose from the dead.

If we look to him and put our faith and trust in him, we will indeed have life and our sins will be forgiven.

Let us not leave here today, stubborn in our ways like King Ahab.

I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.