“BECAUSE THE ENEMY HAS SAID…”
1 Kgs. 20:23-28
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: HOW MANY CHICKENS
1. Boudreaux spots Thibodeaux walking down the levee the other day, carrying a sack over his shoulder.
2. Well of course, curiosity got the best of Boudreaux, and he asked Thibodeaux, "Hey, Mon Homme,(my man), what you got in dat sack ?" Thibodeaux says, "Well, I got me some chickens in dat sack."
3. Boudreaux says, "If I can guess how many chickens you got in dat sack, can I have one of dem?"
4. Thibodeaux replied, "Well, my fren, if you can guess how many I got, you can have both of dem!"
B. TEXTS
36 2 Thus says the Lord God: “Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’”’ 3 therefore prophesy…” Ezek. 36:2-3,5,7-8. NKJV
23 Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. 24 So do this thing: Dismiss the kings, each from his position, and put captains in their places; 25 and you shall 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 plain; surely we will be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so. 26 So it was, in the spring of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. 27…Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside. 28 Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’” 1 Kgs. 20:23-28 NKJV
C. THESIS
1. The devil loves to boast, to brag, and to gloat, especially if he can win a triumph over God or God’s people.
2. God however, is jealous for His Name and reputation. Therefore allowing the devil to win and to boast totally rubs God the wrong way.
3. So God is invested in overthrowing the schemes of the wicked and vindicating the righteous.
4. In our passage tonight we see to what lengths God will go to short-circuit the enemy from a victory.
5. This is an encouragement to us that if we call on God and solicit His help when the devil assaults us, God WILL NOT let our enemy triumph over us!
6. The title of this message is, “Because the Enemy Has Said….”
I. THE ENEMY’S BOAST ABOUT AHAB
A. ORIGIN OF THE BOAST
1. When Israel came out of Egypt, they had no chariots. Under Joshua, almost all the battles were waged and won on hilly/mountainous terrain.
2. So after Ahab's victory over Aram on hilly terrain, the Aramaeans said that “Israel's God must be a God only of the hills." "If we can get them to fight us in a valley, we will win." But God heard their boast in limiting Him.
B. WHY WOULD GOD HELP AHAB?
1. Ahab was very evil. “30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him” 1 Kings 16:30-33.
2. He was so evil that it brought 3 1/2 years of famine on the land. Would you think God would help such a man? No!
C. WHY GOD DID HELP AHAB:
1. God doesn't like boasting/pride. Prov. 24:17-18.
2. God doesn't like injustice. God takes up for the underdog (Psalm 113:7; 147:6) and down trodden (Prov. 14:31; 2 Cor. 7:6).
3. God will not let His Name or Word be defamed.
a. Jer. 1:12, "I am watching over my Word to perform it."
b. When God was angry with the Israelites, He hesitated to destroy them because “I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest the adversary misunderstand and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed; the Lord has not done all this.’” Deut. 32:27. c. Ezek. 20:9, God explains His mercy toward the Israelites; “But for the sake of my name, I brought them out of Egypt. I did it to keep my name from being profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they lived and in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites.” (also Isa. 48:9,11.)
II. THE ENEMY’S LIES ABOUT THE CHURCH
A. TRASH TALK
1. Do you know what it means to "talk trash?" You hear it on the basketball courts, "You can't shoot hoop!" etc.
2. The purpose of such talk is to try and cause your opponent to lose his concentration.
3. Let me assure you tonight that Satan is an expert at talking trash! He has refined the art of intimidation through talking.
4. Millions of lives are held in prisons that are fashioned out of words and thoughts. Bound by evil imaginations, ideas, and suggestions, many people are unable to escape from the torment of past failures.
5. The chaos of yesterday has been used as an effective restraint today. Satan is constantly reminding them of their futile efforts to live for God. Reminding them that they are really just failures.
6. Satan has a very limited vocabulary. It consists of two thoughts: 1). You can't; 2). God won’t.
7. “You can't live for God because you had an alcoholic daddy.” “God won't help you because you didn't live up to your last promise to pray 15 minutes every day.”
8. He not only desires to bind individual lives to the point of despair, he desires to frustrate and reduce the ministries of the church.
9. He seeks to keep the youth of the church talked out of living for God.
B. ONE OF THE LIES OF THE DEVIL
1. The specific lie of Ahab’s enemies was that God can only save at certain locations or in certain situations, and not in others.
2. They said, “Their God is [only a] God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys” (vs. 28).
3. Often times Christians fall for this lie. We come to believe that God is with us in our good times (mountaintop experiences), but deserts us when we go through our valley experiences (times of trial).
4. When we’re out of a job, when we’re sick, or a tragedy has occurred, etc., God has somehow lost His power and can no longer help us.
5. So in some people’s minds, God is God sometimes, and NOT God other times! This, of course, isn’t true; God is God ALL the time.
6. But neither does God want Christians or those around them to believe that the Living God is powerless or doesn’t care about us.
C. BUT THIS STIRS GOD’S DESIRE TO ACT FOR US!
1. In Ezekiel 36:1-3, God says, "Because your enemy has said these things... prophesy!" The devil has been lying to you, but God is going to answer him.
2. Satan has said,
a. "You will never change/be healed.
b. “You will never get over this problem.”
c. “You will never see your loved ones saved.”
d. “Your youth group will never grow.”
e. Your church will never see great revival.”
3. I've got good news tonight: God is sending a Word through the Holy Spirit, "I have heard the boastful words of the enemy, wherewith he blasphemes Me. Therefore hear the word of the Lord!”
4. “Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” Mt. 16:18; Isa. 54:17.
5. “In the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” 2Cor. 6:7.
6. “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11.
7. “In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.” Rom. 8:37. “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh...” “This gospel shall be preached in all nations...."
III. SATAN HAS A PLOT, BUT GOD HAS A PLAN
A. GOD’S DESTINY CAN’T BE THWARTED
1. Satan can plot and lie all he wants, but God will ultimately prevail.
2. Just as surely as Haman's plot was turned against him, so shall our enemy's plot turned against him. God has ordained us, from the foundation of the world, to be His own dear children.
3. God knows what the enemy is plotting and will frustrate him. Job 5:12, "He disappoints the devices of the crafty, so their hands can't perform their enterprise." “The Lord watches over…the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked” Ps. 146:9.
B. GOD OUTSMARTS THE WICKED
1. In New York City, there are 8 million cats and 11 million dogs. The city is just concrete and steel, so that when a pet dies, you can’t just go out into the back yard & bury it. The city will dispose of your pet for a $50 fee.
2. One lady had a great thought: “I can dispose of those pets for less than that! I’d be providing a service to the people of the city and saving them money.”
3. So she placed an ad in the newspaper saying she would provide the service for just $25, half the fee the city was charging. Her services were soon in great demand.
4. Her method of disposal was brilliant. She’s go to the Salvation Army and buy an old suitcase for $2. She’d pick up the dearly departed pet and put it in the suitcase.
5. She’d hop on the subway, put the suitcase down and act like she wasn’t watching it. Invariably, a thief would come by and steal her suitcase!
6. Not only did she save money for the grieving pet owners, she probably rehabilitated a thief or two! She outsmarted the evil doers and accomplished her goal.
C. IT’S ABOUT TIME WE STARTED “PROPHESYING”
1. That is, "speaking out some things tonight," “Speaking of the good God will do for us.”
2. We should believe and confess the truth that God will never let the enemy gloat over His people; He will repay the enemy 10X over for the evil he does. We serve a just and faithful Creator!
3. Say what God says and have faith in Him!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Pastor J.H. Crowell was 16 years old when he was hired on a sailing vessel in the 1800’s. He was the only Christian on board the ship.
2. Each day he would go below deck and pray aloud. He was badly persecuted.
a. Once they threw wood at him;
b. They poured buckets of cold water over him;
c. They tied him to the mast and gave him 39 lashes;
d. Tied a rope to his body and threw him overboard. He tried to swim but at last he couldn’t swim any longer. He shouted; “Send my body to my mother and tell her I died for Jesus!”
3. He was later pulled onto the deck unconscious. Conviction began to seize the sailors. Before nightfall 2 of them were gloriously converted.
4. Inside of a week, everyone on board, including the captain, was blessedly saved. [Walter B. Knight’s, 3000 Illus., p. 491.]
B. THE CALL
1. Psalms 68 -- "Let God Arise.” “The Lord shall fight your battles for you.”
2. 38 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 8:38-39.
3. Let’s take our trials and conflicts to the Lord and let Him resolve them. Do you have any battles you need God to fight for you?
4. We serve an All-knowing, all-seeing God who cares about His people and will vindicate us and His Word. Let’s take the battle to the Lord.
5. Prayer for salvation and deliverance.
