From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: We want to talk about the worst king, maybe one of the worst human beings to have ever lived. His name was Ahab. He was married to the devil's daughter, so to speak, Jezebel. He is the worst king of all the long line of bad kings. But here's the thing: from Ahab and Jezebel, these two horrible, awful, wicked people, we can learn a lot about God and how God deals with horrible, awful, wicked people.

Larry Nobles: God sees everything you and I say, do, and think. Yet He has great patience with our sinfulness and selfish independence. But His patience is not without limits. Welcome to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, who today will bring a challenging, convicting, and an encouraging lesson from his series *Holy Boldness: Lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire*.

Thank you for joining us for this Monday broadcast as we learn that anyone, anyone who follows the footsteps of wicked King Ahab and Jezebel will experience the same devastation that only sin can bring, but that God can forgive. You can hear others from this series that you may have missed when you go to fromhisheart.org; click the listen link. Now though, open your Bible to 1 Kings Chapter 21, and let's begin the lesson explaining the wages of sin for wicked people.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: If you have your Bible, please turn to 1 Kings Chapter 21. 1 Kings Chapter 21, we want to talk today about a message I've entitled "The Wages of Sin." We want to talk about the worst king, maybe one of the worst human beings to have ever lived. His name was Ahab. He was married to the devil's daughter, so to speak, Jezebel.

He is the worst example. I was looking on a website this morning for the kings of Israel, and you know we have Israel is 12 tribes, but then they split under King Rehoboam, Solomon's son. The kingdom split, and then you had ten tribes that made up the Northern Kingdom and two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, that made up the Southern Kingdom.

In the Southern Kingdom, the capital was Jerusalem. That was the kingdom that stayed more true to the Lord. The Northern Kingdom, that's called in the Bible Israel because there are so many tribes in there. It's called Israel, it's called the Northern Kingdom, it's called Samaria, it's called Ephraim—all those mean the same people. Well, their kings, every single one of them was bad.

And so when I looked down the list, it listed all the kings, it would say bad king, bad king, bad king. And then it said Omri, that's Ahab's daddy, really bad king. And then it said Ahab, worst king. Worst king of all the long line of bad kings. The Bible says about him, "Surely there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord because Jezebel his wife incited him." He's the worst.

But here's the thing: from Ahab and Jezebel, these two horrible, awful, wicked people, we can learn a lot about God and how God deals with horrible, awful, wicked people. This message today is a warning. It's a wake-up call to us because the Scripture makes it clear: the wages of sin is death.

1 Kings Chapter 21, before I begin reading, I want to kind of set the stage. As you know, Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal. Ethbaal was the king of the Sidonians. And so up in the north, he brings this woman down. She is totally sold out and devoted to Baal worship.

And so she's the one that has the prophets of Baal and the prophets of the Asherah, which was the female consort of Baal, come into the temple. "Hey, you guys, you're welcome here. Sit at my table, eat at my table. We're going to worship Baal." And her goal was to eradicate the worship of Jehovah God from Israel and replace it with Baal worship. And she was doing a lot to kill the prophets with the sword.

Someone said that Ahab ruled Israel, but Jezebel ruled Ahab. And she's really the power behind the throne, and one of the reasons that Ahab sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, the Scripture says, because his wife Jezebel incited him. It's a bad deal when you're married to the devil's daughter, when you're married to the woman who has the devil's initials carved into her heart. She's an idolater, she makes him turn into an idolater. They are terrible, horrible people, and God tries to get their attention, but to no avail.

And the Scripture tells us about something that they did that was the straw that broke the camel's back. It had to do with a man named Naboth. Naboth was a God-fearing Jew living in Jezreel. Jezreel is about 25 miles from Samaria. Samaria is the capital city for Ahab and Jezebel. That's their capital for the king and queen, but they had a summer palace in Jezreel, about 25 miles to the north.

Well, connected to their summer palace or right adjacent to their summer palace is this guy Naboth, he has a vineyard. And so Ahab longs to have Naboth's vineyard for a vegetable garden. So he says to Naboth, "Hey Naboth, I'd like to buy your vineyard. Would you sell me your vineyard? I'll pay a price for it or I'll trade you something that's better." And Naboth says, "No, I can't do that." He said, "That's an inheritance from the Lord that's in my family, and I'm not supposed to sell that land because that's a family piece of property, and so no, I'm not going to do it."

Well, Ahab doesn't like that answer. And so he goes back to his palace there in Jezreel, his summer palace, and he begins to pout. And he is sullen and vexed, the Bible says. He's angry, he's just so frustrated that Naboth didn't sell him that. He doesn't want to eat any food.

And so they tell Jezebel, the servants tell Jezebel, "Hey, Ahab's really upset." And so she comes in there and she says, "What's going on, big boy? Why are you so upset?" And you can just see this king, he's just such a little pouter. You can kind of see his lip kind of come out, it's like he's three years old.

"Well, this Naboth, I asked him about his vineyard and he won't sell that to me, and I just dang." I mean he's just like that. And he's whining like a whipped hound. And Jezebel, she says, "Are you not the king in Israel?" She said, "Listen, you let me handle this. You go and eat your dinner and you don't be sad anymore." And while Ahab was pouting, she was plotting.

And she devised a plan. And she wrote a letter in Ahab's name to the elders and the leaders of Jezreel, and she said, "You need to proclaim a fast and you need to put Naboth at the head of the table when they all come together and get two worthless men and let those two worthless men give a testimony that Naboth cursed God and the king."

And so they did that, and they put Naboth at the head of the table, and he thought, "Man, how cool. The elders are recognizing me." But they didn't, it was all a frame job. And the two worthless men said, "This man Naboth, he cursed God and cursed the king and what should we do?" "Stone him with stones." And they took him outside of the city and they stoned him to death with stones. And Jezebel came back to Ahab and she said, "Ahab, you don't need to buy that field. You don't need to trade Naboth for that field. You just need to go take it because Naboth is dead. I took care of the problem for you."

1 Kings Chapter 21, verse 17: "Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, 'Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it. And you shall speak to him saying, "Thus says the Lord, have you murdered and also taken possession?" And you shall speak to him saying, "Thus says the Lord, in the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, even yours."'"

And Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, oh my enemy?" And he answered, "I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon you and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab every male both bond and free in Israel. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger and because you have made Israel sin. And of Jezebel also the Lord has spoken saying, 'The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.' The one belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of the heaven shall eat."

Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord because Jezebel his wife incited him. And he acted very abominably in following idols according to all the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the sons of Israel. Judgment is coming on you big time, Ahab. Why? Because the wages of sin is death.

Larry Nobles: Well, how is your struggling going? Lots of people like to live a life that avoids conflict at all levels—physical, mental, and especially spiritual conflict. They get along to go along. And as we've heard in the lesson today from *From His Heart*, that can have consequences.

The name of the message today: "The Wages of Sin," and it's from Pastor Jeff's series *Holy Boldness*. You see, all around us there is gross immorality and a falling away from the faith. Many churches have drifted from true north, the eternal word of God, for the conventional wisdom of the culture. It's a tragic and troubling thing to say the least.

Our world desperately needs to see Christians stand up for Jesus and the good news of His salvation. We need godly men and women to stand up for holy boldness, and that's why Pastor Jeff would like for you to have a copy of his eight-message series *Holy Boldness: Lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire*.

Because when you stand up and speak up for Jesus, that's when you can really make a difference in the lives of people for all eternity. This series is our thank-you gift for your support of *From His Heart* this month of any amount. And with that gift, we'll send you the series and the companion booklet *Unveiling the Mystery of Prayer*. To get the series and the booklet, call 866-40-BIBLE, 866-40-BIBLE, or go to fromhisheart.org. Together, let's take a bold stand for Jesus and learn to live holy lives because of our holy God. Now let's get back to part one of the message "The Wages of Sin" from Pastor Jeff's series *Holy Boldness*.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: What do we learn about God? What are the lessons that we learn about God from this sordid story and the horrible lives of Ahab and Jezebel? I want to share four lessons with you. First lesson: God sees everything we do, He sees everything we say, He sees everything we think.

When Elijah went down to talk to Ahab at Naboth's vineyard that he had stolen and murdered and taken, he tells him everything that happened. The Lord knew. Now Elijah didn't know on his own, but God told him what had happened. And He says, "Have you murdered and taken possession? In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, even yours."

God saw everything that took place. He saw how Ahab wanted the vineyard. He saw how Naboth said no and held to his guns, "No, I can't do that, that's an inheritance from the Lord to my family." He saw how Ahab pouted. He saw how Jezebel plotted. He saw the two wicked men come and lie about Naboth. He saw them throw the stones. He saw the blood spill. He saw it all because the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good.

Now you mark this down, none of us can hide our actions from God. You can't, I can't, no one can. Ahab couldn't, Elijah can't, nobody can. Why? Because God sees everything. Hebrews Chapter 4, verse 13 says, "For there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

Now do you remember in the Old Testament Moses, when Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and he didn't like that? And the Scripture says this: he looked this way and he looked that way, and when he saw that no one was looking, he rose up and smote that Egyptian and buried him in the sand. He looked to his left, he looked to his right, but he forgot to look up because God saw everything that he did. Because the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good.

None of us can hide our actions from God, and none of us can hide our motives from God. See, not only does God see what we do, see what we say, see what we think, God knows why we do what we do. Sometimes we struggle with our motives, not really knowing, do I have a pure motive or is it an impure motive? God knows that.

The Bible says in Proverbs Chapter 16 and verse 2, "All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives." You know one thing about the judgment seat of Christ, that special judgment for Christians, only for Christians, where we stand before the Lord and He tests our lives? He tests our lives with fire to see if what is in us is wood, hay, and stubble or is it gold, silver, precious stone. As the poem says, "Only one life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last." And He will test the motives, not only what we did but why we did what we did.

Preaching is a good thing, but a person can preach with selfish motives. Teaching is a good thing, teaching the Scripture, but a person can teach with selfish motives. Singing is a good thing, but a person can sing with selfish motives. Serving, giving—those are all good things. But if you do it for self, it's wood, hay, and straw; it will be consumed at the judgment seat of Christ because the Lord weighs the motives.

You and I need to remember God sees everything we do. He doesn't see as man sees; man sees the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And He knows what's going on in there. So important for us to be honest with the Lord because He knows it all anyway.

And when we sin, we need to remember God saw everything that I did with that sin. Many of us, we sin retail and we like to confess wholesale. We like to just kind of just get it out there and, "Lord, if I've offended you in any way, please forgive me." God says, "You know exactly how you offended me, and I know how you offended me, so why don't you name it and then we can nail it to the cross of Jesus Christ?"

God, very first lesson: He sees everything we say, we think, we do, and why we do what we do. Second lesson: God can be our friend or He can be our enemy. He can be our friend and He wants to be our friend, or He can be our enemy.

So Elijah goes down to Naboth's vineyard and confronts Ahab. And Elijah, stronger than an acre of garlic, he says what the Lord tells him to say and lets the chips fall. Verse 19, "And you shall speak to him saying, 'Thus says the Lord, have you murdered and also taken possession?' And you shall speak to him saying, 'Thus says the Lord, in the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, even yours.'" That's really strong words to the king.

And Ahab, verse 20, said to Elijah, "Have you found me, oh my enemy?" And he answered, "I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord." Yeah, I found you because you sold yourself to do evil.

What was Ahab's response to Elijah when he met him in 1 Kings Chapter 18? He called him the troubler of Israel because when Elijah prayed, there was no rain for three and a half years. "You're troubling Israel." And Elijah said, "I'm not troubling Israel, you are, Ahab, you and your sinful house. That's why there's no rain because God has shut up the heavens because of your sin." But now he doesn't call him troubler of Israel, he calls him, "Oh my enemy."

Now you think about it. Elijah, prophet of God, his name means "My God is Yahweh," "My God is the Lord." He speaks for God, he lives for God, he walks with God. He is on the Lord's side. And if he is Ahab's enemy, that means Ahab is not on the Lord's side. Elijah is Ahab's enemy because God is Ahab's enemy.

Now God can be our friend or He can be our enemy. So what determines whether He is your friend or your enemy? If you make friends with sin, you make enemies with God. Ahab sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Sold himself to do evil before the Lord. "In the sight of the Lord" means that he didn't really care what God thought. "Lord, I'm going to do what I want to do and I don't really care what you say about it." It's the attitude of Pharaoh who said to Moses, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?"

The Bible calls that in the Book of Numbers? It's called sinning with a high hand. It's almost like you're shaking your fist in the face of God. It's like you're just strutting in your sin and you're saying, "So what are you going to do about it, God? What are you going to do about it, God?" That's a scary place to be. You make friends with sin and you make yourself an enemy of God. James 4:4, a Scripture we have used in this series, says this: "You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

The Bible makes it clear what brings the wrath of God, the violent passion and vengeance of God, and it is sin. God hates sin. Colossians Chapter 3 talks about immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. And it says, "For it is on account of those things that the wrath of God will come." Romans Chapter 1, verse 18 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." They try to hold down the truth in unrighteousness. It's fake news and it's like we don't want the truth to come out, we just want to pump lies. And God says, "My wrath is against ungodliness and unrighteousness."

And someone has once said that the dam of God's mercy—the waters of God's wrath are furiously beating against the dam of His mercy. God hates sin. And we don't have much fear of God anymore today. We desperately need the fear of God, but we don't really have the fear of God. And we sell ourselves to do evil and we say, "Oh, it's no big deal. That doesn't really matter."

Hey, it matters because the enemies of God experience the wrath of God. And God doesn't want that for anyone. Now listen, every single blood-bought child of God—I'm talking about a true Christian, a true born-again Christian—every single one of us knows that there's a battle that rages between the flesh and the spirit, a battle inside, and there's a struggle.

The Bible talks about fleshly lusts that wage war against the soul. Hebrews Chapter 12 talks about striving, our striving against sin. Right as Robert Robinson wrote that song, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." There's this pull toward evil and this desire to walk with God for the Christian, and there's a struggle inside. Every Christian knows that struggle.

Now I want you to notice a difference. There's a big difference between struggling with sin and surrendering to sin. A gigantic difference. Those who want to walk with God, we struggle against sin and we feel the pull toward doing what's wrong. As Paul said, "Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death? I feel this pull toward evil, I don't want to do that but I feel this pull and, Lord, I want to serve you but I just seem like I don't have power to do that." We all know that struggle.

But there are those who call themselves Christians, and you're not struggling with sin. You've sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. You've totally surrendered to sin. That word in Hebrew "sold yourself to do evil," "sold," it can also mean surrendered. And that's what Ahab had done.

Larry Nobles: You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve today and the message "The Wages of Sin." Listen, have you surrendered your heart to God? Have you yielded your claim over your life, your plans, your desires, and your identity, and placed them under Jesus's lordship and entrusted what God already did for you by sending His Son to die on the cross? Have you done that in prayer and obedience?

If you haven't, we strongly urge you to go to fromhisheart.org; click the Why Jesus link. There you'll get a better understanding of what it means to release your life to Christ, why you need to do that, and how much God really does love you. Again, that's the Why Jesus link at fromhisheart.org. Well, that's all the time we have for today. I'm Larry Nobles, thanks for joining us, and we trust that you'll be with Pastor Jeff next time as he continues in his *Holy Boldness* series with lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire. We hope you'll return tomorrow specifically for the encouragement you'll want to hear in part two of "The Wages of Sin." That's on Tuesday when we'll again open up God's word and hear more truth, love, and hope from His heart.