You ever feel like just when things are going well that the Government comes along and wants everything you have? If it’s not property tax that the HRM wants, then it’s sales tax the province wants or income tax the federal government wants. Which have you heard, Canadian Revenue Agency is changing their logo? It used to be “More ways to serve you!” Now it’s going to be “We’ve got what it takes to take what you’ve got!”
Did I read somewhere that the average Canadian has to work until June just to pay their taxes? But all is not lost; the city keeps reminding us that they haven’t been raising our property tax rate, of course with the increased provincial assessments we still pay more. Yippee.
On the other hand it could be worse. Put yourself in this guys shoes. One day you’re out working in your vineyard, tending the vines, killing the bugs, pulling out the weeds and whatever else you do when you’re tending a garden. Can’t tell I was a fisherman and not a farmer can you? And into your life arrives the King who makes you an offer you can’t refuse, but you do.
What happens is that the king tells you he wants your vineyard to plant a veggie garden in. And he offers to give you a better vineyard, or whatever else you want. Just imagine Rodney MacDonald arrives at your door and says “I love your house, and I will trade you for a much nicer home or give you however much you want for it.” The problem was that this vineyard had been in Naboth’s family for longer then long. This was in all probability the plot that was given to his family hundreds of years before when the Israelites had first arrived into the Promised Land. To sell his birthright was against the law of God. And so he didn’t even think about it he just told the king no.
Well the King went home and climbed the miff tree, you know he went to snitsville, or whatever. Because regardless of what you call it the King began to sulk. Poor king. It wasn’t hard to notice that he hadn’t gotten his own way, he’d just gone in thrown himself on his bed and stared at the wall, wouldn’t come out not even for dinner. And so while he’s having fun at his own pity party his wife Jezebel comes along and wants to know what’s wrong. And so Ahab tells her, 1 Kings 21:6 “I asked Naboth to sell me his vineyard or to trade it, and he refused!”
You wonder why he needs a vineyard when he can produce that much whine with just his voice.
Now personally I love the response of the Queen because she says, “Aren’t you the King of Israel?” And then she tells him, “Get out of bed and eat something! Don’t worry, I’ll get Naboth’s vineyard for you.” Now is the couple that put fun in dysfunctional or what?
Now if this were a movie, the music would change to a minor key to signify that something was about to happen, and indeed something did happen, and it wasn’t all that nice.
Jezebel borrowed the King’s seal and letterhead wrote letters to the officials of the town where Naboth lived, asked them to order the people in the town to begin a fast and to call for a town hall meeting with everyone in the community. Now this might seem a little strange to us, but to the people of Jezreel it could only mean one thing.
I suppose I should tell you, right? It meant that somehow they had displeased God and the officials were going to make it right. Along with the call to a fast Jezebel added one other thing. She wanted the town leaders to find two false witnesses who would swear that they heard Naboth curse God and the King. And then there were to take Naboth out and execute him. Simple, yet effective. And to the bottom of the letter she affixed her husband’s seal and signature.
And that’s what happened, as a matter of fact not only was Naboth stoned to death, but later on we discover that his entire household was put to death. Conveniently leaving his estate including his vineyard without an heir.
Well what is a king supposed to do? The land now reverted to the crown because the previous owner had been found guilty of treason and blasphemy. I’m sure that Jezebel was thinking, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Not a very nice story, but then again Ahab and Jezebel weren’t very nice people. So what can we learn from this story.
Naboth’s sin started when He Wanted What Wasn’t His. Naboth wasn’t alone here; the very essence of sin goes back to this principle. If you were to take a trip back to the beginning you would find the original couple, Adam and Eve had everything they could possibly want, except for one thing, they could not eat from one tree. They could do anything they wanted to with the tree. They could look at it, they could touch it, they could climb it, they could chop it down and burn it, but God had told them very specifically in Genesis 2:16-17 “You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die.”
Pretty plain, pretty clear, no ambiguity there, this is what you must not do. And when Satan came along to tempt Adam and Eve, what ploy did he use. Sure in Genesis 3:4-5 “You won’t die!” the serpent hissed. “God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”
What was he saying? He was saying don’t you want what God has? If you just had what God had, then you’d be really happy. Right? Look across the Bible what is it that gets people in trouble? Wanting what somebody else has. And it’s not just a matter of wanting something like the one they have, it’s wanting what they have, so they can’t have it anymore because it’s yours.
We could go through example after example in the Bible, Jacob wanted Esau’s inheritance and he was willing to cheat and lie to get it. Joseph’s brothers wanted the love that their father bestowed upon Joseph and they were willing to kill him or sell him into slavery to get it. Last week we looked at how David wanted Uriah’s wife Bathsheba and he was willing to kill Uriah to get her. The religious leaders who had Jesus executed didn’t do it because of what he did, they did it because of what he had. He had the power of God, and he had the ears of the people, and if the high priest couldn’t have what Jesus had then he couldn’t have it either and so they killed him.
Think of any of the crimes and atrocities that have been committed throughout history, they happened because somebody wanted what somebody else had.
There is a story told about Abraham Lincoln walking down the street with his two boys, both of who were howling to beat the band. A friend happened along and asked Lincoln, “Abe, what’s wrong with the boys?” “What’s wrong with the boys?” came his reply, “The same thing that is wrong with the world. I have three chestnuts and they both want two.”
One of the Ten Commandments tells us Exodus 20:17 “Do not covet your neighbour’s house. Do not covet your neighbour’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else your neighbour owns.”
It might seem harmless enough and yet that is the very beginning of our problems. God didn’t just put that commandment in because the Ten Commandments sounded better then the nine commandments; he put it in for a reason.
Donald Trump said The point is that you can’t be too greedy. And he was wrong, wrong, wrong. Isaiah 57:17 records the words of God, Isaiah 57:17 I was angry and punished these greedy people. I withdrew myself from them, but they went right on sinning.
When Jesus was condemning the Pharisees listen to what he said about them Matthew 23:25 “How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence!
And listen to the group that he clumps greed into in Mark 7:20-23 And then he added, “It is the thought-life that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God.”
I didn’t say all that to say that having stuff is wrong, after all it was Woody Allen who said Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons. But when it consumes you then it is wrong. And you don’t have to have money to fall into that trap. Listen to what Teddy Roosevelt said: Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own natures.
The bible calls it covetness, and the Bible says it’s a sin, and remember: Sin will take you further then you want to go, keep you longer then you want to stay and cost you more then you want to pay.
He Didn’t Care That It Was Wrong. Now Naboth didn’t turn down the King’s offer just be difficult. He wasn’t trying to put himself into a better bargaining position. He wasn’t even doing it because he disliked the king. He was doing it because it was the right thing to do, and he was doing it because that’s what God would have him to do. If we look into Leviticus 25:23 God laid down his rules for the land which he had given the children of Israel. And remember, the land must never be sold on a permanent basis because it really belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenants living with me.
Naboth knew that he would be in violation of God’s law if he sold his vineyard to the King, and do you know what? The King knew that it would be wrong as well, and part of why he was upset was that he knew that Naboth had more integrity then he did. And that is never a pleasant discovery.
It’s always tough to discover what our price is. In 1990 James Patterson and Peter Kim wrote a book based on extensive surveys of the American Public, the book was called; “The Day That America Told The Truth.” Questions were asked concerning a wide range of topics from morality to work to family life. The results are really quite surprising. And while it’s easy to write off the results as being American I’m sure that many of the results would have been the same on this side of the 49th.
One of the questions asked was “What would you be willing to do for Ten Million Dollars?” A follow up survey was done asking about 5, 4, 3 and 2 million dollars and the results remained fairly consistent. It was only under $2 million that they began to see a fall off in what people would do. So it would appear the price for many Americans was $2 million. Out of the ten questions asked 2/3 of the respondents agreed they would be willing to do at least one, and some several of the deeds. What were they? Would abandon their entire family 25%, Would abandon their Church 25%, Would become prostitutes for a week or more 23%, Would give up their American citizenship 16%, Would leave their spouse 16%, Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free 10%, Would kill a stranger 7%, would change their race 6%, would have a sex change operation 4%, or would put their children up for adoption 3%.
It’s been said that if you are trying to prove how crooked a stick is, the easiest way is not to debate it, or to argue about it the easiest way is to lay a straight stick next to it.
Most people don’t unwittingly commit sin. Most people know exactly what they are doing and do it anyways. They might justify their actions, they might rationalize what they are doing, they might even try to deny that they knew they shouldn’t do it. But the bottom line is most people sin willingly. Peter Marshall said “We are too Christian really to enjoy sinning, and too fond of sinning really to enjoy Christianity. Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we do not want to do it.”
Not only was Ahab trying to get Naboth to break the God’s laws concerning his land but when he couldn’t get it that way he murdered the man to get it. Now I know that technically it was Jezebel who did the killing but Ahab had as much blood on his hands as the two guys who lied about Naboth. Why? Cause he knew what his wife was capable of. This was the same gal who in 1 Kings Chapter 11 had killed all the preachers in the country except for a hundred and fifty of them.
Now regardless of your feelings about preachers that seemed a little excessive. This was woman who threatened to separate Elijah’s head from his shoulders. This wasn’t Shirley Temple we’re talking about, this wasn’t even Madonna. So when she told Ahab in 1 Kings 21:7 “Are you the king of Israel or not?” Jezebel asked. “Get up and eat and don’t worry about it. I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard!”
What did Ahab think she was going to do? Play Naboth a game of checkers for his vineyard, I think not. Ahab knew what his wife was capable of and knew exactly what she was going to do to Naboth and he did nothing at all to stop it.
Listen to what happens; 1 Kings 21:15-16 When Jezebel heard the news; she said to Ahab, “You know the vineyard Naboth wouldn’t sell you? Well, you can have it now! He’s dead!” So Ahab immediately went down to the vineyard to claim it.
Now wouldn’t you have been the least bit curious about how Naboth died, was he sick? Was it an accident? No Naboth didn’t ask cause he already knew. When he whined to Jezebel Ahab signed Naboth’s death certificate.
And you know as well as I do that when we finally decide that we are going to do something that is against the will of God, we don’t care if it’s wrong or not.
He got Caught If you don’t get anything else from this message please get this it is so important.
This could be the last point to every one of these messages. It doesn’t matter how clever you think you are, you will get caught. Do you understand that? That’s why the word of God says in Numbers 32:23. . . and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.
Michele didn’t read the part about Ahab getting caught but it is just a couple of verses further along, this is what happened. 1 Kings 21:17-19 But the Lord said to Elijah, who was from Tishbe, “Go down to meet King Ahab, who rules in Samaria. He will be at Naboth’s vineyard in Jezreel, taking possession of it. Give him this message: ‘This is what the Lord says: Isn’t killing Naboth bad enough? Must you rob him, too? Because you have done this, dogs will lick your blood outside the city just as they licked the blood of Naboth!’ ”
You gotta love that.
What is there in your life right now that you don’t want people to know about. What actions, or thoughts, what are you watching, reading or listening to that you’d just as soon it remain between you and you? Cause you know that isn’t possible don’t you?
I may not arrive on your front steps to confront you, you spouse may never know, your kids may never find out but you will get caught. You may go to the grave thinking that you got away with it, but listen to what the Bible, the Word of God says in Psalm 11:4 But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven. He watches everything closely, examining everyone on earth.
I mentioned the story of David and Bathsheba earlier in the message and preached on it last week. How he lusted after his neighbour’s wife, slept with her, got her pregnant and murdered her husband and he thought he got away with it until he was confronted by the prophet Nathan. David was guilty as guilty can be and he knew that there was only one thing to do, he did it three thousand years ago and friends it is still the only thing that we can do. Listen to the words that David wrote Psalm 51:1-4 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds — they haunt me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.
Powerpoint is available for this message contact me at Denn@powerpoint4preaching.com
