2 King 1:1-Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
2-Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria, and was injured; so he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.”
The king that we are talking about was the son of Ahab and Jezebel.
Now Jezebel had introduced Ahab to Baal. And Ahab had introduced Israel's to Baal and the worship of Baal. Now Israel knew about the one true God, they knew about being God's chosen people, they had seen the mighty hand of God but they traded all of that knowledge to worship a god that is useless!!
A god who was powerless!
A god who couldn't speak!
A god who couldn't move!
And yet the children of Israel is worshipping a false god!!
He's trying to ask a question to a false god that only the one true God can answer!!
There is a lot of people running around trying to find answers in this life and they are asking(physics, movie stars, sports stars, motivational speakers) questions or listening to answers that only God can answer!!
Verse 3-But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’
4-“Now therefore, thus says the LORD: ‘You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’?” So Elijah departed.
Back to the story, they are heading out to ask a question to a god that can't answer, can't talk and who do they run into, a man of God, a prophet of God, who as an answer from God!!
Verse 5-And when the messengers returned to him, he said to them, “Why have you come back?”
6-So they said to him, “A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and say to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’?”?’?”
King you wanted an answer to your question, the man of God has revealed to the answer to your question!
• Verse 7-Then he said to them, “What kind of man was it who came up to meet you and told you these words?”
8-So they answered him, “A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
The king all to well, who this man is!
It's the same man who gave his father problems!
Didn't let rain for 3 years, challenged the prophets of baal and the prophets of asher to a show down!
And won by fire from the sky consuming the sacrifice and licking up the water and then having the prophets killed.
In those days if you was going to hear from God, it was usually thru a man of God, prophet of God!
Thank God that all thru history God has used people of God to reveal the mind and heart of God!!
We are no longer living in the age where we don't know the heart and mind of God!
We are not living in the age where we have to wait upon a prophet of God can reveal to us the message of God!
We are living in an age where God has revealed His mind and His heart, and its so clear and so powerful and we can find that in the B I B L E
That's the book for me!!
When the people in this world are running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I'm glad I have access to a road map for my life!!
I'm glad I have a book available to me, that make sense out of a senseless world!!
I'm glad I got book before me that is just as real today as it was when it was written!!
I'm glad I have a book in my possession as important and vital today as it was when it was written!!
Verse 9-Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. So he went up to him; and there he was, sitting on the top of a hill. And he spoke to him: “Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down!’?”
10-So Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
11-Then he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men. And he answered and said to him: “Man of God, thus has the king said, ‘Come down quickly!’?”
• 12-So Elijah answered and said to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
13-Again, he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, and said to him: “Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.
14-“Look, fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifties with their fifties. But let my life now be precious in your sight.”
“Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down!’?”
Do you see the arrogance for the king?
He's having his captain order this man of God around like he is his servant instead of being God's servant!!
Verse 15-And the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king.
16-Then he said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’?”
17-So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. Because he had no son, Jehoram became king in his place, in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
Three Things A Church Should Be!
1-We Should Be Different!
Verse 7-Then he said to them, “What kind of man was it who came up to meet you and told you these words?”
8-So they answered him, “A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
We should look different.... A Smile, Confidence, Positivity
We should act differently than the world!
We should think differently than the world!
• 2-We Should Speak The Truth!
Verse 3-But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’
4-“Now therefore, thus says the LORD: ‘You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’?” So Elijah departed.
Elijah told the messengers that the king would die because he did not consult God about his injuries and whether it would result in death, instead of trying to consulting a false god!
In other words there are consequences to sin!!
That is our job as a church is to make sure people know that there are consequences to sin!!
3-Speak The Truth No Matter Who You Are Talking Too!
Verse 15-And the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king.
16-Then he said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’?”
It didn't matter if it was the messengers or the king, Elijah didn't water down the message!
He was not swayed by the king's power or his position, or authority, he had a message from God and he was obligated to share it!!
Because a message from God should be delivered the same way to the rich man, as it is to a poor man!
No matter what our differences are, we should never water down the message of God!!
God's word might offend someone but I would rather them hear the truth and be offended and have the opportunity to turn to the truth, than lie to them or water down the truth and they wind up in hell because they were not told the truth!!
Never forget what an emergency nurse said to a preacher one day: Reaching those who don't know Christ reminds me of doing CPR in the emergency room. My ER training tells me that when they bring in a patient who's not breathing and whose heart isn't beating, Do something!
• Even if you don't know what to do. Do something! If you don't, they're gone."
• Even when we're not sure of what to do, we must trust the Holy Spirit and Love Enough to intervene.
