1Kings 21:1-29
Collecting Sin’s Bounty
Ahab was a wicked king over Israel. In fact, he was quite probably
the most wicked king to ever rule in Israel. His name became the
standard by which to measure a person’s wickedness. Whenever God
wanted to emphasis how wicked a person was, they compared him to King
Ahab.
For example, when Ahab’s son, Ahaziah, ruled after Ahab had died,
God said of him.
2Chronicles 22:3 He also walked in the ways of
the house of Ahab: for his mother was his
counsellor to do wickedly….
And when Jehoram, a king of Judah, ruled after Ahab had died, God
said of him:
2Kings 8:18 And he walked in the way of the
kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for
the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did
evil in the sight of the LORD.
Not only was King Ahab wicked but, he married a princess from Sidon,
a heathen city north-west of Israel named Jezebel. Perhaps you have
heard some unsavory woman called "a Jezebel" before. That came from
the Bible and is a reference to Ahab’s wicked wife. She worshipped
the false god, Baal, and was more wicked than even Ahab.
Together, these two performed some of the most wicked deeds recorded
in the Bible. We have here a single story which illustrates the
depths of this couples depravity. (RETELL THE STORY.)
What lessons can we learn?
I. A lesson about life - LIFE IS NOT FAIR.
A. This is a hard truth but it is a truth every one must learn
and should teach to those you love.
1. One day, your child will stomp into the house and flop on
the sofa with a lip unfurled like a long shade being
pulled at dusk.
2. When you ask what’s wrong their response will consist of
the three words. "IT’S NOT FAIR!"
3. In that instant, you might console your child with the
lie, "Everything will be all right" or you might teach
the child the truth.
B. In this life, sometimes things aren’t all right and sometimes
they will never be!
1. Naboth grew a beautiful vineyard and Ahab stole it. That
wasn’t all right.
2. Naboth never did anything wrong but had his name drug
threw the mud anyway. That wasn’t all right.
3. Naboth was a man of integrity but two sons of Belial were
believed over him. That wasn’t all right.
4. Naboth was a righteous man who feared God and was ruled
over by a wicked tyrant. That wasn’t all right.
5. Naboth’s only desire was to be obedient to God, to keep
the land God had given to his family in his family,
instead his life was taken by the most disobedient man
on the face of the earth. That wasn’t all right.
6. Naboth was set up and sold out by his own city leaders,
those he trusted and who were there to protect him. That
wasn’t all right.
7. In the end, Naboth was murdered on the same day he was
being honored. That wasn’t all right—and in this life,
it was never going to be all right.
8. None of the people involved in this plot were ever
arrested, tried, or convicted—as far as we know, they
were never even accused—by any earthly court. That
was not all right.
9. For Naboth, things were not right and—in this life—
they were never going to be.
10. That is hard truth. It is a fact of life.
C. But we aren’t just talking about the life of Naboth. Life in
Green Pond, Alabama, isn’t fair either!
1. The wicked get promoted while the righteous labor.
2. You get a raise and taxes take not only the raise but
deeper your earnings before you got the raise.
3. Good people get sick—even die—while wicked people live to
an old age.
4. Tornadoes skip over the wicked man’s business to destroy
the good man’s house.
5. I think of the day that we are praying will stop, the
day of abortion.
(a) One site listed the following statistics as of this
morning 5:25 AM.
(1) Babies aborted in the US since 1973, 60,121,291.
(2) Babies aborted in this US this year, 51,321.
(3) Babies aborted worldwide since 1980,
1,482,216,483.
http://www.numberofabortions.com/
(b) That is not all right and even if abortion was
stopped today, it could never make what has been
done all right.
D. None of this means that God doesn’t care, that God has
abandoned His Word, or that God is finished!
1. It just means life is not fair and in this world, it never
will be!
2. That is a truth about life we must face.
E. Thankfully, we do have a God in heaven who has not written the
last chapter yet.
II. Lesson about sin - SIN CAN NOT BE HID.
A. Can you imagine the shock on Ahab’s face when he went to claim
his bounty and standing in the field was the prophet of God?!
B. Who told Elijah?
1. Naboth was dead and died before he had an opportunity to
tell anyone what was being done to him.
2. The two false witness of Belial? Not likely.
3. The rulers in Jezreel? Again, not likely.
4. Jezebel? No.
5. God told Elijah!
C. God keeps a record of EVERY work done.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God shall bring every work
into judgment, with every secret thing, whether
it be good, or whether it be evil.
Mark 4:22 For there is nothing hid, which shall
not be manifested; neither was any thing kept
secret, but that it should come abroad.
1. It is amazing how we get confused about what is long range
and what is short range.
a. We tend to think short range things are important:
(1) Impressing our friends
(2) Amassing earthly wealth
(3) Making a name for ourselves
(4) Friends, those things won’t matter a split second
after death.
b. And the things we think are unimportant affect us for
years to come.
(1) I saw an article this morning which stated that
the eggs of our mothers were formed while they
were in the wombs of their mothers.
(2) That means those things that a mother does when
she is pregnant not only impact her child but
her grandchildren.
2. Do we think that eliminating 1 trillion people off this
planet has not effected the world in which we live?
3. These verses say that God not only knows, but that He
exposes secret sins.
a. The verses do not say to whom God will expose the
deeds or when He will expose them.
b. It may be in part in this lifetime but, it will
definitely happened at the judgment.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God; and the books were opened:
and another book was opened, which is the book
of life: and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books,
according to their works.
4. To those who think their sin is a joke, I believe you will
change your mind when you stand before God and He opens
those books.
D. But wait! Ahab didn’t commit the crime. Jezebel did.
1. God wasn’t going to let Ahab claim ignorance when he
turned a wicked woman like Jezebel loose.
2. By the way, I’m afraid we are going to bear some of the
responsibility for sins we knew were going on and allowed
to continue as well.
E. Face another truth - God’s not going to forget about our sin
either!
III. Lesson about forgiveness - MERCY IS NOT THE SAME AS
FORGIVENESS.
A. \\#27-29\\ Give a picture of a very repentant Ahab!
1. After Naboth was killed, after Ahab was confronted, after
Naboth knew God had seen and was going to deal with him,
Naboth humbled himself and even temporary changed his
ways.
2. God took note and showed Ahab mercy; however, God did not
forgive Ahab because Ahab did not seek forgiveness.
B. That might seem strange to some, but there is a difference in
mercy and forgiveness.
1. What is mercy? Mercy is when God withholds any portion of
sin’s punishment for any length of time.
2. What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is when God completely
removes—not the punishment, but the sin.
3. Mercy produces forgiveness, but forgiveness is much more
powerful than mercy.
C. Mercy and forgiveness different in what they do and how you
obtain them.
1. Notice the short comings of mercy in Ahab’s life.
a. God was showing Ahab partial mercy. He was delaying
some of Ahab’s judgment for THIS sin. He still had
many other sins for which God would hold him
accountable.
b. Here God was showing Ahab temporary mercy. Some of
the Ahab’s judgment would not fall upon him but would
fall upon his son.
(1) That was no mercy for his son.
(2) I don’t think Ahab’s son, Ahaziah, lived a year
after becoming king.
c. However, nothing really changed. The judgment was
still coming and some of it started almost instantly.
2. But forgiveness when it is given is total and complete.
a. The wrong is erased. That’s much better than the
punishment either being shifted or delayed.
b. Thinking about this has reminded me that forgiveness
is always either total and not at all.
c. Even though Ahab had received mercy, he had to stand
before God guilty of every sin he had ever committed.
d. Every lost person does!
3. There is also a difference in the way mercy and
forgiveness are obtained.
a. God gives mercy for whatever reason He desires.
(1) Ahab did not do much to get it considering the
evil he had done to deserve it.
(2) God just gave mercy to Ahab.
b. But forgiveness
(1) …must be requested.
(2) …must be requested on the basis of Jesus’ death.
(3) …must be accompanied by repentance, a permanent
change in our behavior concerning sin.
D. Why is forgiveness so much better than mercy?
1.Because it deals with the sin not the punishment.
2. Mercy alone only deals with the punishment.
a. When God forgives, He does not blot out our
punishment.
b. He goes to the book of works and blots out our sin.
c. With the removal of the sin, every judgment related to
the sin is also removed.
Ps 51:9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out
all mine iniquities.
Mic 7:19 He will turn again, he will have
compassion upon us; he will subdue our
iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea.
E. All of mankind has experienced God’s mercy—including wicked
King Ahab. Few have experienced God’s forgiveness.
1. God gives mercy as it suits Him.
Lamentations 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies
that we are not consumed, because his compassions
fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy
faithfulness.
2. Forgiveness:
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.
F. If you will seek forgiveness, God will give you complete,
permanent, and total forgiveness.
1. Your sins will be removed from the book of works.
2. You will have a new life in Jesus Christ.
Ahab was on the way to collect sin’s bounty when God busted into his
world. I doubt he ever enjoyed a single grape from the vineyard.
Ahab found out then—and is still learning today—that sin’s cost is
high.
What about you? Would you like to have some of God’s forgiveness
today?
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