Courage or Compromise
Text: 1 Kings 22:1-28
GIVE THANKS / OPEN WITH PRAYER
This morning I want to share with you all something from God’s Word, that I believe is very relevant and important for us to grasp, especially for this time that we are living in. And what that important thing is - - IS COURAGE!
We are now in a time, when wicked, godless people are no longer content just to verbally insult us and disagree with us and our stand on God’s Word… Instead, they will now try to get us fired from our jobs, slander us, lie about us, “cancel” us, physically attack us, try to destroy our property, and all sorts of other things. Sin abounds in our world, and it takes courage to stand for Jesus, and stand on God’s Word, and stand up for what we believe in. And I could’ve gone to several passages in the Bible, that we’re all familiar with… we could look at Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego… Or Esther, or other’s; but instead we’re going to be looking at lesser known guy named Micaiah. So if you’ll take your Bible’s and open them up to 1 Kings 22, and please follow along as I read verses 1-28 (READ 1 Kings 22:1-28).
So this passage begins by telling us that Syria and Israel had previously been at war, but for the last three years, there has been an uneasy peace… and Jehoshaphat – the King of Judah paid a visit to Ahab – the King of Israel. Now let me give you a little background here about these two guys. Jehoshaphat wasn’t too bad of a king. His biggest problem was that he was foolish when it came to picking his alliances. He was a guy who believed in God, and loved God, and wanted to obey God, but he kept on making alliances, or covenants, or agreements with bad people. And that’s what Ahab was – this guy was a wicked, lost, sinful man. But here comes Jehoshaphat coming to visit him, and making and alliance with him so that Israel can attempt to get back the territory of Ramoth-gilead that was being held by the Syirans.
So right off the bat here, in these first four verses, we can learn a good principle to live by… God’s people shouldn’t be making these kings of alliances or agreements with people who hate God, and are the enemies of God. It’s unwise… in-fact the Bible tells us not to swear any oaths, especially with unbelievers… But that’s what Jehoshaphat was going to do.
But notice in verse 5 Jehoshaphat wants to be in God’s will, and so he tells Ahab to “Inquire first for the Word of the Lord.” In other words, “Let’s make sure this is God’s will.” And so – Ahab brings in 400 so called prophets and asks them, “Should we go to war with Syria?” And all of them – TO A MAN – say, “Oh yeah, go on! You’ve got this Ahab! The Lord will give it to the hand of the king.” You notice, they never say which king God is going to give it to… just “the king”… now it’s implied the king is Ahab… but I find it interesting they never actually say.
The point is – they all tell Ahab, “Yeah, go do it.”
Now it’s kind of funny, because Ahab has these 400 so called prophets telling him to go on and attack Syria, but Jehoshaphat is still a little apprehensive… He’s like, “MMMM.. I don’t know about this. Something seems off. Is there anybody else who we can talk to about this?”
Now check out Ahab’s answer there in the last part of verse 8, “There is one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, BUT I HATE HIM, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” WHAT A BABY! RIGHT? I remember the first time I read this, and I was like, “Seriously? How could the King of Israel, or any king or any nation, be such a petty, whiny, cry-baby?” I mean… nobody’s going to follow a leader like that… right? At least I used to think that way… the last year or so has changed my thinking on that.
At least Ahab can speak in coherent sentences.
So you’ve got Ahab here, saying, “Yeah, there’s a prophet named Micaiah… but I don’t like him, he doesn’t say nice things about me… I don’t like his mean tweets.” But Jehoshaphat is like, “Let’s hear what he has to say.”
Now Ahab doesn’t like that, but he needs Judah’s army by his side… so he orders his officer to go get Micaiah out of jail and bring him to them… Why do I say that Micaiah was in jail? Well I’ll get to that in a minute, but for now, just trust me, Micaiah was in jail – Most likely because he was speaking the truth, and Ahab didn’t like it.
Second principle – COURAGE DOESN’T JUST HAPPEN… It’s built and it grows as we take a stand for the little things, but it shrinks and becomes weak if we compromise. So obviously; this guy Micaiah has been training and building up his courage, by boldly proclaiming and preaching, and prophesying God’s Word. He’s taking his stand. He’s become a courageous man of God, not a compromising man of the world.
And so, the officer goes off to get Micaiah, but in the meantime, Jehoshaphat and Ahab are seated on their thrones in front of the gates, and these 400 so called prophets are telling them to go to war with Syria… and one in particular – a guy named Zedekiah, he goes so far as to create a visual aid. Verse 11 tells us that he made horns of iron and said, “With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.” So basically, this guy Zedekiah has made a ropin’ dummy… you know to practice calf roping, and he’s pushing it around – all while he’s claiming to be speaking for the Lord. That’s weird… but that’s what he does.
Meanwhile, the guy who went to get Micaiah tells him, “OK, Micaiah, King Ahab has 400 prophets telling him to go to war with Syria. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll do the same thing. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” “You had better toe the line Micaiah! You had better not rock the boat. You had better comply – or else! Besides it’s not that big of a compromise is it? All the other ‘prophets’ are doing it, what could it hurt?”
Now I love Micaiah’s answer – “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.”
WHAT THE LORD SAYS TO ME, THAT I WILL SPEAK!
Your opinion and my opinion has no power! It has no power to save the lost sinner! It has no power to deliver a person from the bondage of sin! It has no power to sanctify the believer! Only God’s Word can do that. The Bible tells us that we are born again through an incorruptible seed – which is the Word of God. The Bible tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, and that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord. It tells that we are sanctified by the Truth – and God’s Word is the truth! It tells us that God’s Word will not return to Him void, but it will accomplish what HE intends it to… not what you or I intend it to, but what God intends it to. And so we have to be men and women who stand on that Word, and boldly – courageously proclaim it to this lost and dying world. You and I don’t save anyone – God does that through the faithful proclamation of His Word. You and I don’t change hearts – God does that through the faithful proclamation of His Word.
We just have to have the courage to faithfully proclaim it!
So Micaiah is brought before the two kings, and its kind of funny, because in verse 15 when Ahab asks him if they should go up and invade Syria, Micaiah says the exact same thing that the 400 prophets have been saying. Word for word… and if you’re just reading through this, it might seem confusing because a little bit later, Micaiah says something different. This is why we need context. In verse 16 we see that Ahab is angry with this. If you’re casually reading it, you’d think he’d be happy that Micaiah said exactly what the other so called prophets were saying, but verse 16 lets us know that Micaiah was using a sarcastic kind of tone here. He’s mocking King Ahab and these 400 so called prophets.
Now sometimes people hear that and go *gasp* “Oh my goodness! Would one of God’s prophets really do that?” You’d better believe it – go back to 1 Kings 18 and see what Elijah does. He makes fun of the prophets of Baal and their false god. Or you can just go to the Gospels in John 8:44 where Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are of their father the Devil.
Now I’m not saying we be rude to people, or condescending…
But if you are consistently taking a stand on God’s Word… and standing for what is right and true, you’re inevitably going to encounter someone who is hostile to you and to your faith, and to Christ… and sometimes those people are so totally depraved and perverse, and wicked, that God will move you to put them in their place.
I think of David and Goliath – Goliath was openly mocking God and His people, and David was filled with righteous anger. He was basically like, “Who does this guy think he is? He’s not in covenant with God… he’s a nobody. Is he going to mock the God who created all things, and who even at this very moment is allowing him to keep breathing? Not while I’m around.”
Now how did David have the kind of courage to face Goliath? Well it’s like I said, Courage doesn’t just happen. Before there was a Goliath, there was a lion and a bear.
So number one – be courageous enough to take a stand and not align yourself with people who are going to tempt you to compromise and lead you away from God… and Number two – courage grows and is built up by practicing it in the little things first. We’re about to see the third principle in a minute, but first we’ll see what being faithful and courageous in the little things results in…
Micaiah mocks Ahab and the false prophets, and Ahab gets really mad – that’s verse 16, and so in verse 17 Micaiah gives him the real truth… He’s like, “You want to really know what God is saying? Well here goes – You’re army is going to get scattered… which means you’re going to lose this fight… BUT WAIT, THERES MORE! God Himself is against you Ahab.”
The last part of verse 23, “The Lord has declared disaster for you.”
And that brings us to our third and final principle in this passage, and that’s this…
Courage is NOT ONLY saying and doing the right thing. It’s saying and doing the right thing, knowing full well there’s going to be a consequence for it. Think about it… there’s a big difference between standing up in a Bible believing church full of Christians and saying “I love Jesus! He is the Son of God, and my Savior and Lord” and standing up in a mosque full of Muslim’s in Iran and saying the same thing.
So courage is not only the willingness to say and do the right things… it’s the willingness to suffer the consequences for them after you’ve said and done them. It takes no courage at all to say what you believe in an echo chamber… But if you’re faced with losing your job – then what? Or if you’re faced with being attacked – then what?
That’s what happens to Micaiah… you remember Zedekiah – the guy who was pushing the roping dummy around? Well he comes up and goes full Will Smith on Micaiah – he strikes him on the cheek and says, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” And Micaiah says, “You’ll see on that day when you go and hide in your closet.” Basically, he was saying, “When Ahab dies, and the Syrians are running amok, and you’re hiding in your closet in fear of your life… you’ll know then.”
Well… this of course makes Ahab really mad and in verse 26 he tells his guards to “Seize Micaiah, and TAKE HIM BACK to Amon…” (Remember when I said we knew Micaiah was already in jail… now he’s going to have to go back – this is how we knew that).
And so church – as I close this morning… I believe that we are in a time in history, where the men and women of God need to be strong, take heart, and have courage. We need to be courageous enough to say to our so called friends, “No I’m not going to be a part of this… I’m not going to align myself with you. I’m not going to hang out with people who are going to be engaging in sin and tempting me to sin.” We need to be practicing courage in the little things so that we can stand strong when the big thing comes… and we need to understand, and be courageous enough to realize when we do take that stand… when we do say and do the right things… the world is going to hate that, and it’s going to hate us… just like Ahab hated Micaiah.
And here’s the final lesson… you can’t do it… none of us can without Christ, without God, without the Holy Spirit.
CLOSING
