When I have sold out God
17 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: 18 "Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. 19 Say to him, ’This is what the LORD says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, ’This is what the LORD says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood-yes, yours!’ " (sounds really yucky)
20 Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!"
"I have found you," he answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD . 21 ’I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel-slave or free. 22 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, (complete wipe-out of existence his entire clan) because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’
23 "And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: ’Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of [Jezreel.’
24 "Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country.
25 (There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD , urged on by Jezebel his wife. 26 He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.)
27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.
28 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."
A seven year-old comes to class one morning after being absent the day before. His teacher asked, "Why weren’t you at school yesterday?"
"Well, my Granddad got burnt," he explains.
"Oh dear. He wasn’t too badly hurt was he?" the teacher replies.
"Oh yes, they don’t mess around at those crematoriums!"
Today, I wanna say God does not mess around with sin and death. Folks who mess around with it will get burnt. See, in our text here God was through with Ahab as we read in 1 Kings 21. Ahab is finished (see v.19, 22). He was facing extermination by God. There is no messing around here. Evil will be given the boot! God wants Ahab out of the picture. Ahab was about to get burnt big time by God. Ahab’s a dead duck, finito, kaput, for sure!
Just in case some here don’t know how evil he was and why God does not want to mess around with Ahab anymore, we get this commentary from the Bible “There was never a man like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD , urged on by Jezebel his wife. 26 He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.”
What a pronouncement! Is there any justification for this? Influenced by his wife, Jezebel who happened to be the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon and a priest of Astarte (one of vilest ancient times cult), he allowed a temple dedicated to Baal, to be built in the land of the free. The God of Israel was not pleased! False prophets sprung up like weeds to support and violate all that seemed decent with displays of public porn nudity/sex which was seen as worship to the goddess of fertility, love and war at the behest of Ahab. Moreover, the prophets of God were slaughtered, cut down like BC logs heading to the pulp factory and thrown out like yesterday’s garbage. The altars of God were desecrated and torn down and the worship of idols flourished under Ahab’s reign. He also killed a man after making mockery of justice by running a fake trial, just to get a vineyard that was next to his palace. Ahab was full of hate for the prophet Elijah, calling him a troublemaker, when he was the one who fitted that description. All Elijah ever did was to follow God’s orders to confront Ahab with his crimes against God and humanity. As a result, along with his wife, they sought to eliminate him and poor Elijah had to run for his life. So great and complete is his contempt for God and his selling out of God that Ahab succeeded in corrupting succeeding generations after him. Many kings of Israel after him went the same way he did. What a model, what a hero, eh? Can you see why God does not want to mess around with Ahab?
Have u heard of David Berkowitz? Ring any bells? I heard his story while driving to a pastors meeting one day, on a Focus on the family broadcast on radio. But people especially those affected by his crimes were furious over Focus for airing his story on radio. Why? Let me go on… Apparently, over a period of a year, beginning in the summer of the 1976, he would terrorized a city in the USA. In that stretch of time, he had killed six people and injured seven. When he was finally caught, he pleaded guilty and he was sentenced to a term of 365 years. He will never know the outside of the prison walls for the rest of his life. He called himself “Son of Sam”. A mass murderer.
Just like King Ahab, whom God’s Word declared “sold himself to do evil”, Berkowitz aka The Son of Sam did the same and wreaked havoc, putting fear into streets of NY city.
Why? Why? We ask! What would possess him to do such a thing? And why couldn’t have God, with all the powers of the Cosmos, just have prevented/stopped it, prevent such a monster from killing, murdering? Or better prevented him from being born? You know let him be just another statistic in America’s abortion clinics? Why let folks like him or Ahab exists to strike terror and evil on God’s good earth?
According to Berkowitz, he believed he received commands to kill from a 6,000 year old spirit named Sam that spoke to him though dogs. He said he was attracted to and was influenced by the occult. This is what he said: "In 1975 I met some guys at a party who were, I later found out, heavily involved in the occult. I had always been fascinated with witchcraft, Satanism and occult things since I was a child. When I was growing up I watched countless horror and Satan-type movies, one of which was Rosemary’s Baby. The movie in particular totally captivated my mind." Can you see the similarities between Berkowitz and Ahab? Here is a man just like King Ahab under the evil influence of his queen, who got urged on by Satanic influences of the occult, gave himself totally and willingly, selling himself out to evil! Like Ahab he behaved in the vilest manner.
He said, "Now I was age 22 and this evil force was still reaching out to me. Everywhere I went there seemed to be a sign or a symbol pointing me to Satan. I felt as if something were trying to take control of my life. I began to read the Satanic Bible by the late Anton LaVey who founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966. I began, innocently, to practice various occult rituals and incantations." How many of us are deceived like Berkowitz, with similar words “I began, innocently…”
Ahab would have been proud. Satan must have been laughing, mocking at God, “look at what your wonderful made in Your image creation is doing to You, Ha, Ha.”
Berkowitz went on and said, "Eventually I crossed that invisible line of no return. After years of mental torment, behavioral problems, deep inner struggles and my own rebellious ways, I became the criminal that, at the time, it seemed as if it was my destiny to become. Looking back it was all a horrible nightmare..."
10 years into his prison term, the Son of Sam was a man without hope, despondent, emotionally wrung out, tortured. But then one day a fellow prisoner named Rick befriended him. Rick began to share the good news about Jesus with him. Because of Rick’s testimony and his own intellectual interest, he began to read the Bible. One night while reading Psalm 34 he began crying out to God. "I told God I was sorry for everything that happened," said Berkowitz, "and that I was sick and tired of living this life. I was disappointed and discouraged, hurting real bad, feeling guilty, and I cried out tears of repentance." He was confronted by God’s Word and it broke him.
Like Ahab’s story, 27 When Ahab heard these words (words from God), he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.
Back to the story of the Son of Sam, half an hour later, as he wept before God, in humble seeking after God, he got up off his knees and something happened in his heart! This is what he said occurred - he said he "felt a ton of weights had been lifted off me."
The incredible miracle and mercy of God visited this hopeless evil man! Jesus had come into his life, forgiven him and changed him. The Son of Sam became the Son of Hope! That is what he calls himself today. Why? Because he humbled himself admitted he was a sinner, knew he was guilty before a holy God, and cast Himself at the mercy of God. And like Ahab’s story, l believe God saw the humility of his heart and his need… “ 28 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."
I cannot believe this. How can God do this? God, don’t u see the devastation that was done through Ahab and through Berkowitz and now just because of the few words they mumbled to God, they are set free??? What??? How is this fair???
A number of critics too cannot believe David Berkowitz’s experience. They attribute this to be just another jail-house conversion designed to make him look good at a parole hearing. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is how changed he was - He feels his life term is just and has never taken any legal steps to seek parole. In fact he went ot his parole meetings to ask them not to set him free, sensing that God has a ministry for him behind bars. And it seems he has taken steps to write letters of apology to all that were affected by his crimes.
Today, Berkowitz serves as a Chaplain’s Assistant at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York. He counsels fellow prisoners, prays with them and helps them in practical ways as a servant of Jesus. In the beginning Berkowitz did not believe Jesus would love him and save him. But after he experienced new life himself, he became aware of the awesome power of God to save anyone.
Berkowitz said, "One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Romans 10:13. It says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Here it is clear that God has no favorites. He rejects no one, but welcomes all who call upon Him. I know that God is a God of mercy who is willing to forgive. He is perfectly able to restore and heal our hurting and broken lives. I have discovered from the Bible that Jesus Christ died for our sins."
He added, "The Bible also says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God". Romans 3:23. Furthermore, it says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". Romans 6:23. These passages make it clear that everyone has sinned. Yes, some like myself did so more than others. But all have done things wrong. Therefore, we must all make the decision to acknowledge our sins before God and be sorry for them." And to that I say Amen!
What I am beginning to see as I read the Scriptures is this…
1. GOD’S HEART IS MOVED BY THE HUMBLE
Folks who sold out God, like Ahab and Berkowitz, WERE TOTALLY EVIL. Yet the pages of the Bible is filled with the stories of God going for the broken hearted and the humble ones. Jesus said in his famous sermon on the mount, the first words of that sermon began with:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. (Matt.5:3-5)
Aren’t you glad that Jesus said those words, that the kingdom of God is not shut out to folks who admit that they broken, beaten, defeated, washed out, hopeless… Jesus’ ministry as Luke 4 tells us is one that is characterised by what the prophet Isaiah said:
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
Satan’s strategy is to have us believe so deeply that people are such dirt, scum and ought to be exterminated like bugs that they so rightly deserve. Satan’s strategy is paint a picture that God is a monster, certainly not a loving figure who would be moved by desperate hopeless sinful people, but one who will turn on you and finish you off with no mercy. Satan wants people to doubt that God is really good. Satan would have us seduce into thinking God is up to something no good, that is why He allows such evil and injustice and suffering to go on in my life. Satan would whisper and suggest to us, “God can’t be trusted at all, can he?”. Why be brpoken and humble before God, why bother coming and believing in God who dealt you such a poor hand in life? But is that really the truth?
God pursued Ahab, gave him opportunities to turn around, warned him through the prophet Elijah, so here we catch a glimpse of God’s heart. He is patient, sometimes a bit too patient, for our standards. Yet he will not allow evil to go unchecked. Check the story of Ahab. He will stop Ahab. God will do justice but yet He allows for evil sinful people, as vile as Ahab or the Son of Sam, to turn and be saved from God’s wrath.
"I hope you didn’t take it personally, Reverend," an embarrassed woman said after a church service, "when my husband walked out during your sermon."
"I did find it rather disconcerting," the preacher replied.
"It’s not a reflection on you, sir," insisted the churchgoer. "Ralph has been walking in his sleep ever since he was a child."
May be you have been sleep-walking through life, through church services, but listen, never doubt God loves you. You matter to him. If you were the last person on earth, He would have sent His Son to die on the cross for you. If you would come and be broken by your sin and be humble before God, His heart of love would be moved, I guarntee you that! He would cleanse you, that’s what Jesus scarficie on the cross is for, to die in your place, take your guilt away, and He showed His great love when He says to a dying thief on the cross “today you will be with me in paradise.” I am here as a messenger of God’s love. This was also how the apostle Paul understood his reason for existing (Eph.3):
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10His intent was that now, through the church, (i.e. through ordinary you) the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
No wonder Paul fell down in worship before such a God and proclaimed (Eph.3):
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
What a thrill it was to know this God of grace, who would root us, establish us, in His unique all encompassing fantastic love!
2. BEING REAL (CONFESSION) GOES A LONG WAY WITH GOD
A man approached a very beautiful woman in a large supermarket and said, "You know, I’ve lost my wife somewhere in this huge supermarket. Can you talk to me for a couple of minutes?"
"Why?" she asks.
"Because every time I talk to a beautiful woman, my wife suddenly appears out of nowhere and I’m tired of looking for her!"
Maybe just like this man give up your search and just be real and talk, not with a very beautiful woman but with a very beautiful God.
This man was just being real and being real help him to find his beloved. Some of us are like that, we get lost in huge supermarket of our world! Perhaps trying too hard to find God, trying to hard to please God, trying too hard to be not sinful… trying too hard business has just robbed you of the joy of God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. I wonder if it is time for us to be give up and just be broken before God? And then be surprised to find God just waiting for us to come home, like the Prodigal Son.
Maybe for you, your experience of God today is not great. Feel like the prayers bounce off the walls. Nothing gets through. Struggle with sin gets u down. Reading the Bible is like reading a story with facts with no personal touch of God there.
Just be real. Story here reminds of the fact of God’s purpose in history – Redemption. He will come for you whether you feel it or not. Feel lost? Just call on to God, just like Berkowitz found out God will show up! Stake your life on His word. Give up trying hard, bask and soak in the love of God for the humble broken ones, mournful, meek… Don’t trust your efforts, nor your feelings when it comes to God’s heart for the humble. Look at Ahab’s story, who sold out God as completely as anyone can, yet when he called out to God, what did God do? Look at the Son of Sam, again, God still loves him. Mostly, look at Jesus, the Son of God who came as the Son of Man, to die for lost sinners and pay the price of sin. What then remains for me to do???
3. I”VE GOTTA HANG ON TO GOD
13When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. 14He said, "I promise that I’ll bless you with everything I have--bless and bless and bless!" 15Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. 16When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they’ll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. 17When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee-- 18God can’t break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. 19It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God. Heb.6 (MSG)
What this says to me is that God will back his word, but we’ve got one thing to do: stick it out with God even when you feel like God’s not there. Grab hold of the promised hope of God, never let it go… “19It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God” IT’S OK to be broken. God gives permission for us to be broken. I don’t need to be strong no more, no more pressure to fake it, no more pressure to earn points, no more pressure to make bad things go away as if by magic because God has visited our broken plant and wants to redeem it. With gracious kindness, God turns to those of us, who are broken up by a sinful, broken world, and He has said He will bless.
Hanging on to God, means we got to be done with trying hard, and just come to God, as people who do not demand, but fall into the hands of a kind and merciful God and worship like Paul did and fall into wonder and praise again - as in the old hymn “And can it be that I should gain… amazing love how can it be that Thou my God should die for me?” When was the last time you fallen in love with God? When was the last time you bask in the glory of the One who loved you and gave His life for you? When was the last time you felt that it’s OK to be in the presence of a holy God who paid the price of your sin? When was the last time you really beheld the manner of love the Father has given unto us that we are called the children of God? When was the last time you grasp hold of the revelation of Christ’s ultimate sacrfifice and truly paid homage/worship in humility of one who said “I don’t deserve this, but I believe!”
4. GOD WILL DO RIGHT.
Evil will not go on unchecked, sin will be dealt with. Don’t mess around with a holy God! Ahab messed around and he found out that he was going to be burnt badly by God. That is why God did right by sending Jesus to deal with the whole sin business, pay the price we should pay, and died for us so that we come back to a merciful God!
Practical application:
Who are the Ahabs u consider lost, the Sons of Sam… they are not lost hopeless cases, forever lost to God. In the wisdom of God He has left us His word, a witness of His desire to redeem a world sold out to evil. No truer word has been that Christ died for our sins. Your faith in Christ is not a dead faith, Jesus is risen from the dead to tell us there is a living hope, a living relationship that can be made with God. We are not just dust, hoping that there is a God, that there is a heaven, hoping against hope that you would know my name if I saw you in heaven. Yes, you would know my name, because You died for me, O my God!
Forgive as Christ forgave us. Give that message out to others through your imperfect life, lived in weakness, counting on a God who accepts brokened humbled hearts. Are you a living letter, an epistle of hope and grace?
3 "My people, what have I done to you?
How have I burdened you? Answer me.
4 I brought you up out of Egypt
and redeemed you from the land of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you,
also Aaron and Miriam…
6 With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6
Indeed, what has God done to us, except to offer His blood for our sin, except to give us kindness instead of the boot, except to love instead of hate, except to redeem us instead of letting us die without hope and without God! Act as God acts, hating sin, but loving to dole out mercy to undeserving people, loving as He did and , my friends, walk with such dependence that you are humbled by God’s kindness and majesty.
Worship Christ as you are set ablazed by the fire of the Spirit of God which burns now within you, causing the praise and adoration to cascade like a stream of living water from within you! Worship Him, dance as David danced. Shout with joy all the earth, for we are His people, the sheep of His pasture! Are you lost in His love? Come back into the Word of God read with worship blazing from a heart set free! Come and make appointments with Him in your day to day life, let the Word of Christ which is alive with hope, free you to smile again and laugh again in a world filled with sadness that drives people to madness, to do evil just make themselves feel big, secure and OK!
I like this quote - “What establishes preeminence in the Christian community is not office, title, or territory, not the charismatic gifts of tongues, healing or inspired preaching, but only our response to Jesus’ question ‘Do you love Me?’ “ says, Brennan Manning (2003, The Rabbi’s Heartbeat, p.94). Are our hearts humbled by His love?
Final application is this: Stop doing evil, or we will get burnt big time – God will do right, He will be just and will surely judge all those who turn away from Him, just as surely as He judge the crimes of Ahab and willed it to stop. Turn to Him before the lights go out, come now in your brokenness and find the kindness of God! That Christ died for our sins, shows He does not want to mess around with it, He dealt with it, gave it a crushing blow, so that we are not crushed. Through His broken body, we now have life, what a God!
Why does God allow the stories of Ahab and Son of Sam to exist? To tell the story of God – His Heart. The redemptive story of God! The love story that blows away all love stories! Have you sold out God, my friends? Sold him down the river as hard as you can? Listen, it is not too late, never too late, while we still have breath, to connect with Him! Do you want to connect with Him and come alive again? The pleasures of the Grace of Christ has taught me to say no to sin, will you join me and give it up too?
