1 Kings 20 (Part 2) Bible Study (A Prophet Condemns Ben-hadad's Release) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Kings chapter 20 Please meet me in verse 22.

1 Kings 20 · chapter mention

And the king of Israel went out and struck the horses and

Chariots and struck the Syrians with a great blow.

This summary of Ahab's miraculous and quite frankly

undeserved victory over the Syrian invasion is located in

First Kings chapter 20, verse 21, which was where we ended our

1 Kings 20:21

study last week. Nevertheless, that narration of

Ahab's victory is not the final thought of this chapter, nor is

it the signal for the end of the conflict between Ahab, king of

Israel, and Ben Haddad, the king of Syria.

When we come to verse 22 and read it, we will quickly learn

that the Spirit of God has provided for us a banquet of

sanctifying truths that are still connected to the themes

that you and I explored last week.

Prepared for you and I are yet more glistening gems of the

grace of God, sobering warnings of particular sins that we tend

to overlook. Fascinating observations

concerning what man is capable of in their sin, what man can

achieve in their obedience to God and who God is in our

obedience or lack of obedience. And there are other fresh

insights that await to be discovered.

So I encourage you tonight come with excitement as you and I

continue to tour through this passage of Scripture and trust

of the Holy Spirit will guide us perfectly to glean from what I

believe is not really touched on much even in a a study for first

kings. So I want us to read 22 and

pause right there at 22. If you haven't been following

us, we archive everything. Everything is on YouTube.

You can you can track with us at another time, but hopefully

where we're going to start off will make sense to you.

Verse 22 reads, Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel

and said to him, Come, strengthen yourself and consider

well what you have to do, for in the spring the king of Syria

will come up against you. This prophet is very likely to

be the same unnamed messenger that we were introduced to in

verse 13 of this very same chapter where this man of God

approached Ahab and assured him, gave him a promise and a plan of

how they can no victory over the Syrian coalition.

And we concluded that the appearance of this prophet in

verse 13 is nothing short of a wonderful demonstration of the

grace of God. Since Ahab, who was a very

wicked king, did not seek the Lord at all, did not inquire of

a prophet, and there were thousands of prophets in the

land of his time, He didn't do anything.

And yet God granted heavenly wisdom nonetheless.

And the shocking grace of God appears once more at this very

moment. Here we see that this prophet

came near to the king of Israel and warned him.

And why this is merciful on God's part is because there is a

unique vulnerability that you and I enter into, especially

after we experience A level of success, even spiritual success.

I'm reading my devotions in the Psalms and I read something in

Psalm 30, verse six. You don't have to turn there,

but it's a confession that David made.

David, a man after God's own heart, even admitted this.

He said, As for me, I said in my prosperity I shall never be

moved. That's dangerous.

That's dangerous. As for me, I said in my prosper,

in my success, in my long lasting achievement, nothing

will shake me, nothing will move me, nothing will tempt me.

And if you and I are not careful, the varying temptations

on the other side of obedience will surprise you, and they have

a tendency of overtaking even the strongest of men and women

of God. And so you and I must always be

alert and mindful of what? Check this out.

Renewed attacks. They are guaranteed.

They will come. You might not know when, you

might not know how, but as long as you have breath and you are

serving the Lord Jesus Christ with your life, attacks will

arrive. Yes, you overcame sin yesterday,

but if you are not mindful of this aspect of spiritual

warfare, you will be caught off guard.

And this is precisely what the Lord is trying to convey to

Ahab. He is reminding him not to get

too comfortable. He is informing him to be

prepared because while he is enjoying, yes, even the grace of

God, yes, a supernatural provision from God, the enemy is

in the background planning and scheming for his next

opportunity. And that is exactly what you and

I are going to read in a moment. But I want to tell you that the

instructions of the prophet toward Ahab are totally

applicable for you and I in the context of spiritual warfare,

because you and I are in spiritual warfare, whether you

are aware of it or not, whether you are engaged in it or not,

it's always happening. That's just a paradigm that you

signed up for when you said yes to the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's nothing to be afraid of because we are guaranteed

wonderful victory as long as we discipline ourselves and apply

certain truths. So here's some things that we

can take from this one verse. Come again to verse 22 with me

and notice what the prophet says.

He says, come #1 strengthen yourself.

Yes, and in like manner, you and I are constantly called to

nurture, develop and receive strength from the Lord, because

what we knew yesterday will not suffice for today or tomorrow.

The only way that we can arrive to the possibility of longevity

in victory over sin, over the temptations of the flesh and the

persuasions of this world is if you abide, if you abide only in

abiding in Christ, can you draw from his power that will flow

through your veins. So he tells him, yes, you

overcame this thing, but I'm calling you now to strengthen

yourself further. You can't depend upon the power

that you tapped into last week, Ahab.

You need renewed grace today. And so my connection to the

Lord, my receiving from the Lord, my sitting at His feet is

not optional if I want to know strength spiritually.

But that's not the only thing He says.

Come, strengthen yourself and consider well what you have to

do. So in other words, remain in the

mindset of strategic warfare. Don't dismiss yourself.

Don't get distracted. Now consider well what you have

to do. And if we are convinced, as I

said earlier, that we are in this constant wrestling with

this flesh, with this world, with an invisible force, then

you and I are going to be more likely to be disciplined and

careful and aware and not caught by surprise.

That's what he says. Lastly, For in the spring, the

king of Syria will come up against you.

In other words, be mindful of upcoming battles.

Whether they are going to be unforeseen persecutions or

familiar temptations, they will surely come as the Syrians.

We're studying. What to do next.

Satan studies. Satan and his minions study.

They've been studying human behavior since the beginning of

time. And they are so conniving and

they are so astute and so aware that people tend to mistaken the

ability of the realm of darkness with God's ability like

omniscience and ineptantance. It's not that they share in

those qualities. It's because they have observed

human behavior enough to realize that there are patterns where

they have almost perfected their abilities to make others trip.

But you know what the Bible says?

Greater as he was in US than he was in the world, no matter what

kind of plans that they've come up with, no matter what has

worked throughout human history, it doesn't have to work for you

and I if Christ dwells in your life, if he dwells in your

heart. So here's what we see.

As Ahab was receiving heavenly instruction from a prophet, Ben

Haddad was receiving his own set of advice, but from a different

source. Look at verse 23.

And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, him being Ben

Haddad, their gods are the gods of the hills.

And so they are. They were stronger than we, but

let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be

stronger than they. And do this, remove the kings

each from his post, and put commanders in their places, and

muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for

horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them

in the plane, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

And he listened to their voice and did so.

So they're regathering and they are thinking to themselves, all

right, we lost that one, but we're not going to give up.

How do we sharpen ourselves? How do we come up with a more

effective plan? And here here's, well, let me

put it this way, you can take a lot from this passage, but

let's, let's make this one major observation.

And, and I want to do it in this fashion.

What do they believe about God here that stands out to you as

being erroneous? The God of Israel, What's that?

He's limited to geographical boundaries.

Yes, that's one. What else?

Yeah. There's not just one God of

Israel. Notice that they said here

they're gods, plural. They're gods are the gods of the

hills. And they thought to themselves,

well, because we fought in that kind of terrain, they're gods

assisted them. But if we if we make it to the

plane, then we will be at an advantage.

Here's the big picture of the section of Scripture.

Though many things can be said, isn't it obvious how their

theology is impacting their methodology?

That's what you're supposed to see here.

In other words, what these Syrian servants believed about

who God is and what he can or cannot do determined how they

interpreted events and how to respond to them.

So you, you have to see that when they look at this, it's

actually determining their operations.

And as our sister said, what they believed about the God of

Israel was a common belief in ancient religion, an ancient

religion. There was this idea that there

were a wide spectrum of gods, and these gods are supervised

and were in charge of different facets of the world.

And so you had the God of rain, you have the God of the sun, you

had the God of agriculture, you had the God of fertility.

And so you had all these idols. And this explains in part why it

was such a great temptation to adopt all these false deities

into your system, into your nation, into your religious

experience. Because the more gods that you

adopted, the more you covered your bases and the more you are

in an advantage, because now you appease these gods and they can

help you economically, they can help you in military strategy.

So this was a very real and constant appeal of having this

plethora of different deities that apparently supervise a

variety of regions and aspects of the universe.

But don't get too stuck on the cultural interpretation of this

text. Don't do that.

See the application of it. Here's the application of it.

Misconceptions about God are not harmless.

They're not, they're not harmless.

This idea, your truth is your truth.

My truth is my truth. That comes at a high price

because this is a prime example that what you believe about God

will determine how you behave, how you think, how you act, how

you plan, what you invest in, what you do, what your

convictions are. AW, Tozer famously said.

What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most

important thing about you, and I agree with him wholeheartedly.

What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most

important thing about you. And what these poor souls

thought about God would lead them into great trouble.

And listen, misconceptions or misunderstandings about the

character of God are not limited to those who believe in false

gods or have their own subjective portrait of who God

is. It's possible for Christians,

Christians who do that daily, engage with the worldview

shaping power of the Word of God.

And so in the same way that these Syrians believe that God,

the God of Israel at least, was the God of the hills, another

God of the plains, you have some even within the church, who

believe God is relevant to some areas and not others.

I've bumped into people who think that God is completely

concerned and exclusively concerned with deeds of love and

not faithful doctrine. I know other Christians who

believe that God has the power to save their soul from hell but

not save them from the power of pornography.

I know others who believe that God is to be sought for these

particular predicaments, but he doesn't seem to offer much help

in these kind of situations that that God will show favor and

blessing to those who have more public gifts.

But not for me, unnoticed and obscure churchgoer.

So in the same way, you have people who think that God is

applied here, Goddess capabilities here, but not here

and not there. And I would add to Tozer's

incredible commentary about the importance of what we think

about God with this, that the most important thing to shape

your thinking about God is God's word and God's word alone.

You limit that to experience. You limit that to what you feel.

My friend, you are signing up for a disastrous way of life.

Do you realize that these Syrians are planning their own

suicide on the basis of them thinking that God is limited to

the mountains? This is their own death

sentence, and equally deadly is you finding the liberty to

define God in a way that He does not define Himself.

And before you and I move on from this point, let me

highlight to you yet another danger of skewed theology.

Not only is it dangerous in the obvious sense, but it's

dangerous because it offends a holy God.

Look at verse 26 with me. In the spring Ben Haddad

mustered the Syrians and went up to AFEC to fight against Israel.

And the people of Israel were mustered and were provisioned

and went against them. The people of Israel encamped

before them like 2 little flocks of goats.

But the Syrians filled the country.

Verse 28 And a man of God came near and said to the king of

Israel. Thus says the Lord.

Because the Syrians have said the Lord is a God of the hills,

but he is not a God of the valleys.

Therefore, in other words, because of that, I will give all

this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I

am the Lord. So the Syrians thought that they

were planning behind the scenes. And you know who was there in

their meeting room? God.

God hears everything. And that alone right here proves

that He's not just the God of the hills.

He was the God in their board meeting as well.

He's omnipresent. Listen, it's a dangerous game to

play when men intentionally distorts who God is.

At the same time, God is extremely patient with the

unsaved who are warped in their thinking.

And God is very much kind and long-suffering toward His

children who are developing in their understanding, though

steadily in their knowledge of the truth.

But the Lord does not have long tolerance for those who in their

arrogance attempt to May God something what he is not and

inform others about what he will or will not do.

And I'm reminded of a New Testament principle because the

temptation of studying the Old Testament and seeing something

like this is to say, well, the Old Testament was God in a bad

mood and the New Testament is God in a good mood.

And what I want to tell people who think that.

And if you have conversations with people who believe that,

who are maybe limited to the Gospels, and we rejoice in the

gospel accounts, ask them if they finished the New Testament,

ask them if they read the last book.

And I want to show you one place where the Lord Jesus Christ

directly condemns one of the local assemblies.

In John's day. It was a church in Pergamum.

And I want you to see His language towards those who

tolerated false teaching because this tolerance that I'm speaking

about concerning the Lord and those who propagate falsehood is

especially irksome to the Lord when it is being done within His

church. Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

You can turn there if you want to know what Revelation is, it's

after Genesis. Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

I don't want you to come here with me to verse 12.

Revelation 212 And to the Angel of the church in Pergamum write

the words of him who has the two, that the sharp 2 edged

sword rather. And verse 13 reads, I know where

you dwell, where Satan's throne is, yet you hold fast my name,

And you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my

faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

I can hardly get by this passage whenever I quote it without

making this specific. Observation, one that I love

making. I just so give God glory that He

informs us indirectly that wherever Pergamum was and

whatever inhabited that place in the physical realm, at least it

made Satan so comfortable that at this time he made his

headquarters there. He's saying, why would you

praise God for that? Because at the same time, God

raised up a church in that very same region, a real, genuine

church, a local assembly of believers can even be known,

raised up on the same street where Satan has his command

center. There are people who think, how,

how can you have a church in Chicago?

Well, I'm not sure where Satan's throne is today.

I know Chicago is pretty bad. But even if Satan does have his

headquarters here, evidently a church can can exist.

And so I rejoice in that. God can do a work anywhere.

And he praises this church because they experience a great

level of persecution. And there's this one individual

named Antipas who some believed to be one of the elders of this

church who was martyred. And so he acknowledges that.

But things quickly turn in verse 14.

But I have a few things against you.

Pause. I never want the Lord to be able

to say that of me. Never.

I believe we are saved by grace and grace alone.

I believe it's faith in what Christ has done that secures our

salvation. But it's possible, even in

having faith in the sufficient work of Christ to disappoint the

Lord. I'm not looking to live my life

to just get a ticket into eternity while I break the heart

of my Master. So when I read this and I read

these seven churches, I often think to myself, Lord, if you

were to write a letter to Maranatha Bible Church, would

you have commendation or condemnation or mix of both?

I want only commendation. But he tells this church, I have

a few things against you and here are the things.

You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who

taught Balaac to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel

so that they might eat food, sacrifice to idols, and practice

sexual immorality. Isn't it amazing how the Lord is

using the Old Testament and the New Testament?

How he's using an Old Testament reality and applying it in a new

covenant sense? One more reason to be encouraged

to know the Old Testament. But he tells this church, you

have some who hold to the specific teaching, and whatever

the essence of this teaching was, it was producing a way of

life, the sense of freedom to worship in other temples and to

actually perform these gross sexual practices.

And it's not just that. Look at verse 15.

So also you have some who hold to the teaching of the

Nicolaitans, and that specific doctrine is not spelled out for

us. But whatever it is, God hates

it. And then here's the warning in

verse 16. Therefore, repent.

Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon.

And this is the language here. War against them with the sword

of my mouth. So he tells the church that's

tolerating this false teaching. There are some who may not be

participating in it or even believe in it, but they know of

others who do, and they haven't confronted them.

They've allowed them to remain. They've allowed false teachers

to come in and to hold Bible studies about things that are

not right. And so the Lord has a warning

for those who allowed it and for those who are sharing it.

He says to those who are tolerating it, I'm going to come

to you soon. So there is an urgency there,

but there's also a time gap. I'm giving you time.

I'm giving you time to repent. And if you don't repent, I will

come to you and then to those who are the instigators, the

main instruments of this problem, he says, and war

against them with the sword of my mouth.

This is not Numbers. This is not Deuteronomy.

This is Revelation, post resurrection and ascension of

Jesus Christ. And he tells a particular group

of people who are poisoning a local church, I will go to war

with you. I will personally go to war with

you. And the fact that he says the

sword of my mouth, that speaks of severe judgment.

If you look at the sword of my mouth in the context of

revelation, it's it's grave, it's heavy.

And so he's telling this church, listen church and Pergamum, your

job is not just to extend love. It's not just to endure

steadfastly the persecution outside of your assembly.

It's to make sure that my house is clean and pure.

And if you don't deal with it, here's what the Lord says, I'm

going to deal with it. If the elders of the church will

not fulfill their duty, then I myself will step in and do

something about it. Why?

Why is this so serious to the Lord?

Because it is detrimental to the testimony of the church, not

just in their misrepresentation of the truth, but also what lies

and fallacies lead to. Notice in verse 15, again, look

with me, He says, so you also have some who hold to the

teaching of the Nicolaitans. So he is.

He's upset at the fact that they are holding to false doctrine.

But look back at Revelation 2 when he speaks to the church in

Ephesus, and look what he says in verse 6.

Yet this you have. He's speaking to another

assembly, yet this you have. You hate the works of the

Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Notice with the Church of

Ephesus, he doesn't highlight the doctrine or the teaching of

the Nicolaitans, but the works. When he comes to the church and

program, he underscores the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

What are we supposed to make of that?

I think one thing you're supposed to make is what we

already discussed, that what you teach and what you believe will

determine how you live and what you do.

The works of the Nicolaitans didn't come from the thin air.

It came from a system of belief and understanding of

spirituality that is wrong, that is skewed, that is poisoned,

that is dark. And so this is This is why the

Lord steps in in the way that he does.

We see it here in First Kings. We see it in Revelation and you

see in so many other places. But let's come back to our main

study tonight because the Syrians have said this, I'm

going to give these people into your hands and for what purpose?

Look at the last part of verse 28 and you shall know that I am

the Lord. So I'm just blown away by the

mercy of God. He said the same thing back in

verse 13. They overthrow the Syrians in a

miraculous fashion, and yet there's not a peep of praise or

acknowledgement from Ahab. And the prophet comes again and

he says, look, they're coming back in the spring, so get

ready. He promises him victory, and yet

he gives the same purpose, the same desired goal from the mouth

of the Lord. Why am I going to let them be

defeated? That you will know that I am the

Lord? He's still pursuing after Ahab's

reluctance to acknowledge that the Lord is a true God.

Don't tell me that God is not persistently patient and

long-suffering and yearning for sinners in the Old Testament to

come to himself. He's still chasing after this

guy. He's still willing to

demonstrate 1 miracle after another to prove to him that I

am the truth. And they encamped verse 29

opposite one another seven days. Then on the 7th day the battle

was joined and the people of Israel struck down of the

Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day and the rest fled into

the city of AFEC and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were

left. That could most likely mean that

the wall was brought down and that made way for those who are

hiding to be slain. Why is this an astounding feat?

Go back here to verse 27. And the people who were mustered

and were provisioned and went against them, the people of

Israel encamped before them like 2 little flocks of goats.

So if you had aerial view of this, you would see just like

just two, two bands of soldiers on the side of Israel, whereas

the Syrians filled the country. And yet God comes through.

He brings deliverance. He does something that cannot be

deemed natural. And this sounds like it would be

a wonderful end to the story. You would think, OK, now Ahab

has seen way more than he needed to see.

He bends his knee. He acknowledges that the Lord is

the true God. Happily ever after.

Israel's transformed. There's renewal, there's

revival, at least during his monarchy.

And you might be disappointed because that's not where the

chapter ends. That's not where this section of

thought ends. It takes an ugly turn, verse 30

tells us. And the rest fled into the city

of AFEC, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left.

Ben Haddad also fled and entered an inner chamber in the city.

Verse 31. And his servant said to him,

Behold, now we have heard the kings of the House of Israel are

merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth around our

waist and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of

Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.

So Benedict servants who gave him the previous strategy and

failed, now come up with another plan.

This time it's not to produce another skillful scheme.

It's to just surrender. Benedict just.

We have nothing else to lose. Why don't we just make our way

towards them and humility and hope that they will?

They will spare our lives. But I have a question here.

Where did they get the idea that the kings of the House of Israel

were merciful? I mean, we can only speculate.

I think 1 plausible way of explaining this is that in their

comparative evaluation of the neighboring nations, because

there was some Intel, obviously even at that time they

understood how things worked in different nations and different

beliefs. But as they contrasted, perhaps

the nation of Israel did develop a reputation of being merciful.

History will testify of the brutality like graphic,

unspeakable acts that some of these ancient rulers performed.

And honest historians who look at the Scriptures, namely the

Old Testament, from an historical standpoint would

admit that though things like what we read in Leviticus and

Deuteronomy might be foreign to our context, we're

countercultural in their day, countercultural.

And so it could be just that. It could be them realizing that

in their distant observation and what they've heard, they've

concluded that the people, namely the rulers, were merciful

because their God is merciful. And there's a gospel ring to

this, is there not? Here you have these Syrians who

have rebelled against the people of God, who have resisted and

challenged the God of Israel. And once they found themselves

defeated, they were also comforted by the potential

thought that God will extend mercy to them rather than wrath.

And it's no different for the Sinner today that though they

have lived all their lives fighting against God, the news

of what Christ offers can provide the hope to change

everything. But here's here's where it's

different. What Christ offers in his good

news is better than whatever news they heard.

Why? Because though they did think

that there was a potential crumb of mercy available to them, it

was not guaranteed. Look here how they say it at the

end of verse 31. Perhaps, perhaps He will spare

your life. Perhaps it's not guaranteed.

We can't be confident. We can only gamble.

That's not true with Christ. What does he say here in John

637? All that the Father has given to

me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will

never castaway. I will never castaway from the

lips of the King of kings himself.

See, the king of Israel, this time they didn't have the

assurance. The true king, he gives you

assurance. Notice that Jesus says whoever,

whoever, he qualifies and makes that availability possible for

all, Whoever comes to me, and he says I will never cast out.

So no matter how dark your sins are, no matter how polluted your

soul is, if you stumble into his presence, he promises to accept

you. He promises to wash you.

He promises to change. He promises to secure your

eternity. He promises.

And if your heart ever condemns you or tells you otherwise,

first, John tells us that God is greater than our hearts.

He's greater than our hearts. So they come up with this plan

and whatever was promising concerning Ahab will prove to be

short lived in the next verse. Look at verse 32.

So they tied sackcloth around their waist and put ropes on

their heads and went to the king of Israel and said, your servant

Ben Haddad says please let me live.

And he said, does he still live? He is my brother.

Come on, what is going on in here?

Ahab for you to identify yourself with this enemy as a

brother and one might object and say, well, Ben had dad repented,

did he? Is this repentance on Benedict's

part? Tell me why it's not true

repentance. OK, why though?

Why? OK, so this is this is

manipulation and this isn't true penitence.

This isn't a person who acknowledges that they've done

wrong. There seems to be no evidence of

crowning the Lord to be the true, the true God.

There seems to be no brokenness. There's not even basic apology

for the recent harassment. It's just this desperate shot in

the dark, say, hey, would you let me live?

So there's there's even an absence of sorrow.

It's just, it's just this, let's just see what happens.

And this is in part why what Ahab does is wrong.

But there's even more to that. And you would only know it if

you actually read this chapter in advance and are familiar with

this passage. Because what Ahab does in

relieving and rescuing this man's life is in direct

disobedience to God's command. Look at verse 42 of the same

chapter and you'll see it. Another man of God will come

shortly. And here's the proof that what

Ahab did flied in the face of what God asked him, and he said

to him. Thus says the Lord, because you

have let go out of your hand the man whom I devoted to

destruction. Therefore your life shall be for

his life, and your people for his people.

So though it's not plainly written, it's disclosed to us

that somewhere in the instructions given to Ahab, God

had told him and given him a similar charge as he did to Saul

with the Amalekites. Eradicate them completely.

Deal with them once and for all. And I know, especially if you

haven't been here regularly, this might be startling to you.

But let me just make a brief comment on that.

Whenever the Lord, especially in the Old Covenant, gives such a

charge for a people group to be eliminated, it is always because

he knows something that we don't.

And in great part, their continuing presence poses a

major threat to the people of God.

And you're going to see that in this very same chapter, or at

least in this book. But it's true in every case.

And what Ahab does here is what many people do when they face

temptation. They immediately recognize some

rewards in disobedience. Look at verse 34.

And Benedad said to him, The cities that my father took from

your father I will restore, and you may establish bazaars for

yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.

And Ahab said, I will let you go on these terms.

So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

So recap here. They said, why don't we just ask

him to to spare your life and see if he does?

They approach him. They said, hey, your servant

Benedad asked, please let me live.

He goes, is he still alive? He's my brother.

Like that should shock you. You know why I should shock you?

It shocked the messengers of Benedad.

Look at verse 33. Look what they say.

Now. The men were watching for a

sign, and they quickly took it up from him and said, yes, your

brother Benedad. So yeah, yeah, yeah.

Your brother Benedad. Yeah, then Benedette came up to

him and he caused him to come up into the chariot and they come

up with a plan. He negotiates, he goes, look,

I'll, I'll give you the cities that we took from you and I'll,

I'll even let you do some trade within the the territory of

Damascus. So Ahab's there.

He knows what God told them, but he's thinking to myself, this

will boost Israel's economy. This, this, this will be an

alliance that might help us in future times where there will be

greater threats, perhaps from rising empires.

And so he gives in. And listen, you know very well

that this is just yet another example to store in our hearts

among the many illustrations in the Bible, that you can never

make a deal with sin and come out conquering unscathed and

blessed. Never.

You can never, whether your negotiation is the duration of

that sin, the extent of that sin.

You can never make a deal with temptation and not get robbed.

How was Ahab robbed here? I mean, this seems pretty simple

here. The city's back and you can

bring some of your products into Damascus and you can make a

little bit more money. It's not until you go to 1st

Kings 22. But let's do it now just to make

this point. Look at First Kings 22.

And look at verse one. For three years Syria and Israel

continued without war. But in the third year,

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel.

And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you know that

Ramoth Gilead belongs to us? And we keep quiet and do not

take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?

You guys catch it. So back in chapter 20, the King

of Syria says we're going to give you back all these cities.

Three years go by and obviously the king of Syria holds back one

city, at least a very strategic one.

He broke his promise. He broke his promise, and this

was now going to instigate another war.

Listen. Sin disappoints.

Always, always, always, always listen.

It will always fail you. I know you think that that

adulterous relationship will add some zest to your life, but it's

going to bite you back. And I know you think that

cheating and being dishonest might make your pocket a little

fatter, but I guarantee you the consequences of that sin will

cost way more than if you had just paid upfront.

Whatever sin promises you, it will always lie to you.

I've sat before Christians enough to know that sin is a

terrible thing to negotiate with.

Don't do it. Don't do it especially when the

thought whispers in your head or in your heart, God will forgive

you. You'll be fine.

It's going to be OK. Just do it once, it's not going

to happen again. Lies, lies, lies.

So he makes a deal with sin and three years go by and would you

know it, the king of Syria lied to him.

And this is just another thing for you and I to embed in our

hearts so that we would not forget in our opportunity to

make a deal with that which breaks the heart of God.

Let's see if we can finish this tonight, shall we?

Put your seatbelts on verse 35 of First Kings 20.

And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow

at the command of the Lord, Strike me, please.

But the man refused to strike him.

Then he said to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of the

Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall

strike you down. And as soon as he departed from

a lion met him and struck him down.

It's a little intense, so let's make sense of this because for

some this might seem unreasonable.

You have a certain man of the sons of the prophets.

The sons of the prophets are going to appear more than once

in this narrative of the kings. They were essentially a school

of gifted messengers who heralded the word of God.

And like any school, you had different tiers.

You had teachers and here we see that one of them from the sons

of the prophet said to his fellow, implying that he is

speaking and asking this of another son of the prophet.

So he's saying to a companion, strike me please.

And further evidence, I believe that the person who is being

asked to do this, as crazy might seem, is a prophet is because of

the consequence for disobedience.

What was the consequence? He didn't strike him so a lion

would meet him and destroy him. Have we seen that before?

We've seen that in First Kings 13 with another unnamed man who

went to speak to a king. He was supposed to go back a

certain way, not stop, not eat bread.

He refused. And what was the consequence?

A lion met him on the road and destroyed him.

So I would say that perhaps this is designed to bring to our

minds of similarities to further confirm the prophetic identity

of this person. Why is that important?

Because if you're a prophet at this time and you're being asked

to do something like this, you you should already know that God

asks of strange things sometimes.

So this isn't so outlandish. Prophets did things to almost

perform sermons in action, and so when this prophet tells

another prophet, strike me, and he doesn't your prophet, you

should know better. More than that though, why else

is this a sin? It's pretty plain.

Did this come from the prophet's idea?

What does verse 35 say? He said to his fellow at the

command of the Lord, So there was a thus says the Lord behind

this and it came from a prophet, a reputable prophet, obviously,

because Ahab is going to recognize him at the end of this

chapter. So he says, listen, the Lord is

asking you to do this to me because I have to send another

message and it's going to require a black eye.

And he goes, I won't do it. It goes, OK, you didn't disobey

me, you disobeyed God and you're going to pay a price for it.

And you think, OK, well, that's helpful, but how does this make

sense for us? I think it's very simple.

When God's will is made known to you and I, it always demands

obedience. Whether that demand is small or

great, it doesn't matter. This is strategically woven into

this part of the Scripture, Not by accident, right?

We're dealing with Ahab's disobedience and now you have

this prophet who disobeys and God doesn't show any favorites.

If a prophet disobeys or rebellious king, it will always

displease him. And that's the point.

Whether the command is to destroy an entire army or to

punch somebody in the face. As strange as that command might

be, if God wills it, then we must comply with it.

And whether we are gifted or whether we are in full time

ministry, or whether we are in the political sphere or we are

in the business world, God's heart is the same for all of us.

He he desires our submission to him and our trust in His Word.

So what happens? One prophet became lunch for a

lion. In verse 37 we read of another.

Then he found another man and said, strike me please.

And the man struck him, struck him and wounded him.

I wonder if this prophet heard what happened to the previous

one. So when he really hit him, he

hit him. I that's the feel I get at this.

Texas struck him, struck him and wounded him.

So the prophet departed and waited for the king, by the way,

disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.

And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, Your

servant went out into the midst of the battle.

And behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said,

Guard this man. If by any means he is missing,

your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent

of silver. And as your servant was busy

here and there, he was gone. The king of Israel said to him,

so shall your judgement be. You yourself have decided it.

Have we seen this playbook before?

Where have we seen it before, David.

And who's the prophet Who did this then?

Nathan. Nathan came with a story to

disarm David. Nathan came with a parable to

position David as a judge of this story.

And he's doing the same thing with Ahab.

He's separating Ahab from the very same sin that he is ready

to condemn himself with. And he is going to make this

declaration, and indirectly he's making it about himself.

The prophets were brilliant at finding ways for people to be

convicted. And so Ahab, he hears this and

he goes, look, you made a deal. You yourself have decided it, so

this is going to happen to you. And though that is the main

point, I can't help but see something tucked into this.

This is a fabricated story. It's not a true story, but I

just find it interesting here that you can even see a

principle that applies to us, namely in verse 40, when this

prophet explains how he was supposed to supervise a captive.

He, he says, and as your servant was busy here and there, he was

gone. The king of Israel said to him,

so shall your judge and be yourself have decided it.

This man admits again, though this isn't a true story, what he

says, nonetheless it's very, very, very true of so many.

He had a duty and he failed to perform that duty because he got

distracted. That's what he's saying, right?

He got busy here and there and it cost him.

And I would say here that you and I have to be careful if we

find ourselves using busyness as an excuse to not perform what

God has asked of us. It's it's really common these

days and, and I get it, but I also find it amazing with all

these technological advancements and all these tools that are

disposal. Does anybody else disagree that

we feel busier than ever and there is that temptation to take

distractions in our lives to negate our responsibility as

Christians? You know, there are some people

who will not come to the House of God because they're busy here

and there. You have some people who do not

use their gifts for God because they're busy here and there.

Can I tell you something? Forgive me for being so

simplistic. Just honor God and watch out.

He'll honor you. Honor Him.

Put Him first. Make worship your priority.

Seek first the Kingdom. Put yourself of making your

existence about glorifying Him in the way that He has fashioned

you to glorify Him and watch how He'll take care of everything

else. I could testify this 12 year

after 12 years of walking with the Lord that when I was a

college student, single with a full time schedule in need of

money, got took care of me. And when I graduated school and

also trying to save up money, got took care of me.

And now that I'm married and still by God's grace wanting to

serve the Lord, He's taking care of us.

You do what God told you to do and watch how God will take care

of you. And I'm not saying you negate

responsibilities or you go overboard.

We talked about Elijah, how he exhausted himself even in the

place of serving God to his own harm.

I'm speaking about your heart posture, being positioned to say

everything orbits around me, honoring what the Lord asks of

me. I'm not abandoning my post no

matter what comes or goes. That tenacity that that fight,

that zeal is, is is strangely missing in most of America,

American Christianity. I wasn't even planning to go

here, but let's just do it. Since you're here and your

seatbelts are still on. Go to Titus 3.

Titus three. Titus is with all the other

letters that start with T. So Timothy, if you're there,

you're close. If you're passing Thessalonians

equally close, look at Titus. Why did Jesus Christ die on the

cross for our sins? Here's one reason.

Look at verse 14 of chapter 2. Who gave himself for us to

redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a

people, for his own possession. Who are what?

Please say it to me. Zealous for good works.

Zealous. Zealous for good works.

You're excited to serve God. You're preoccupied with serving

God. You have a passion to serve God.

One of the outcomes of Jesus Christ dying on the cross and

redeeming a people is that they would be zealous for good works.

You think it would end there? It doesn't end there.

Look here at verse eight of chapter 3.

The saying is trustworthy. And I want you to insist on

these things that so that those who have believed in God may be

careful to devote themselves to good works.

So what is he saying, Pastor Titus, tell your people to be

careful, implying that if you are not careful, you're going to

get careless, to be careful to devote themselves to good works.

Well, we're the gospel of grace. Yeah.

That gospel of grace teaches you to be zealous for good works.

Doesn't teach you to be idle, doesn't teach you to sit on your

hands, doesn't teach you to be busy about absolutely everything

except the things of God. How?

That's not the gospel. You think it ends there?

It doesn't end there. Look at verse 14 and let our

people learn to devote themselves to good works.

Like he's not getting off of it. Jesus came for this.

Be careful to do it and let people learn to do what?

Devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent

need and not be unfruitful. God's will for you is to be

fruitful. It's not to be the same person

you were when you accepted Christ five years ago.

It's for you to grow and increase and advance.

And one of the things that you and I are called to grow and

increases in good works doesn't mean you're going to serve God

the same way that the next person does.

Doesn't mean you're going to serve God the same way the full

time minister does. But there is observable things.

Can I ask you something like, what can you point to in your

life and say I do this for the Lord, I do this for the Lord?

You're saying I don't want to hear that?

No, no, no. Go back to the how God's grace

was rescuing Ahab. OK?

When God rescues you with his grace, you're supposed to do

something. It's supposed to do something in

your life. So the same people who want the

gospel, who want to protect the gospel, and I'm one of those

people. Well, look what Titus says as he

has proclaimed the truth of the gospel.

There's consequence to the gospel, glorious, holy

consequence. Well, that wasn't planned in

Bible study, but let's finish our last few verses of this

chapter together. First Kings chapter 20, verse

1 Kings 20:41

41. Then he hurried to take the

bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized

him as one of the prophets. And he said to him, Thus says

the Lord, because you have let go out of your hand the man whom

I had devoted to destruction. Therefore your life shall be for

his life, and your people for his people.

You know, Ahab had not responded to the splendid grace of God as

he defended him, undeservingly, protected him, and interceded,

or rather intervened for him. So now it's time for discipline.

Listen, this is not coming randomly.

This is coming with a backdrop of mercy being showered over

this man. And you would think that, OK, if

you didn't catch on to God's goodness, maybe now this

discipline, this warning is going to awaken you.

You would think, yes, OK, maybe now Ahab will fall to his knees

and cry out to the Lord. Here's what you read in verse

43. And the king of Israel went to

his house, vexed and sullen, and came to Samaria.

He was upset. He was upset, sulking, dragging

his feet unchanged. Unchanged.

So what's the take away from this?

It's a sad take away that despite all that the Lord has

done for this man, He wouldn't give himself to him.

That's what you and I are supposed to see at the end of

the study. That man is capable of doing

such heinous things, though. This holy God does so much to

reach us and to gather us to Himself.

And that is why the greatest judgment is reserved for those

who, on the other side of the cross, have despised and denied

the Lord after he sent His Son Jesus Christ.

It's no small thing to think small about what Christ has

done. It may be small in your eyes,

but it is not insignificant in the eyes of God the Father.

And there is a day of reckoning where those who have turned

their back against God will have to explain it.

And no explanation will do for why Jesus Christ was not

received to forgive your sins. So if you're a person here who

is unnecessarily delaying your acceptance of the gospel, why?

It's a message of love. It's a message of mercy.

It's a message of tender compassion where you and I, who

are enemies of God, are made righteous because of the

initiation of God in reaching out to you and me.

I pray that if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, that

tonight, even on this Friday night, you would accept Him and

receive Him by repenting of your sin and embracing Him as the

sole means of your salvation. St.

May you be equipped for war may be mindful that this is a

lifelong battle with sin. May also be encouraged to know

that as long as you strengthen yourself with the supply of

grace that God has given us and are mindful of this, and you put

on that armor, you will know victory.

You don't have to be identified with a scandal like many people

are. You don't have to be known as a

person who did not have a glorious graduation throughout

their existence on earth. You don't have to be numbered

among those. God has given us everything that

we need to know wonderful testimonies in Him if we but

trust Him, obey Him, seek Him, wait on Him, love Him, worship

Him, and serve Him. Amen.

Let's seek Him together. In closing, we do bless the name

of the Lord. We thank you, oh God, for your

wonderful provision of truth in this chapter.

And we ask, Oh God, that you would be gracious to bind these

things on our hearts and keep them in remembrance.

Lord, we see Your relentless love and grace in this chapter,

and we pray that the Holy Spirit would make it real for us.

Please, Lord, if all of this has been interpreted as simple

lessons or moral maxims and proverbs, forgive us.

Lord, we ask instead that our hearts would burn with love for

the God of this word. Let that be the fruit of this

Bible study tonight. Let our hearts be softer towards

you. Let there be a genuine

evaluation, introspection that will cause us to grow closer to

you. May your Holy Spirit do that.

Oh God, we've done all that we can in our own ability.

Yes, depending on you. But Lord, a change life can only

occur by your power. So we we ask that you would make

it happen and all of us. And we ask these things in the

living, matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen and Amen. Let's stand, let's worship the

Lord, honour the Lord, thank him, thank him for this

spiritual bread and spiritual drink.