Who Let The Dogs Out?

He puts before the contestants many brief cases that contain certain amounts of money, and many times throughout the program he asks the contestant, “Deal or no Deal?”

What this show so often reveals is that many are willing to deal with the host of the program, but they do not always get what they want!

This is only a game show on television, but the fact is, every day we ARE CONTESTANTS IN LIFE DEALING WITH SATAN. He puts the temptation to sin in front of us and asks us, “DEAL OR NO DEAL?”

Many are willing to deal with him, but they do not always get what they want!

The decisions we make in life, no matter how small they may seem at the time, can be decisions that will affect us for the rest of our lives, and for all of eternity. The decisions we make in life come with consequences!

Illus: Have you ever watched, “True Television,” that deals with real criminal cases that happened? So many times the program is about young women being brutally killed.

• Many of these young women chose prostitution as a way of life and it led to their death

• Some of them were just young women that chose to go out and party at some nightclub, and after they left the club where they were drinking and dancing, they were killed

Again, the decisions in life that we make, even though they may seem small at the time, come with consequences.

In the Old Testament there was a man by the name of Naboth. He faced a “Deal Or No Deal” situation in his life. It is worth our time to examine his life for a few minutes.

We see -

I. NABOTH AND HIS PROPERTY

Naboth had a prime piece of real estate that was located next to King Ahab’s palace. Look at verse 1, we read, “And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.”

How fortunate he must have felt to have such a valuable piece of land. It was such a nice piece of land that King Ahab wanted it. In verse 2, we read, “And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.”

IT WAS A REASONABLE REQUEST.

Illus: Ahab is like Satan in that he offered a very sensible, reasonable request. Satan knows that if he asks you to jump off a bridge and kill yourself, you would not fall for such a request. So he approaches us many times with reason, such as, “Wouldn’t you like to have some fun?” Of course we all like having fun. But what he does not tell a person is that the fun that he offers will destroy their life the same way jumping off a bridge will destroy it.

It was a reasonable and a sensible request. He made Naboth two offers:

• A better vineyard in exchange for the one you own

• Cash if you prefer

Then, he may well have asked, “Do we have a deal?” Naboth said, “No deal!”

Naboth said it this way, in 1 Kings 21:3, “And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.”

He flatly refused to sell his land. It was not for sale at any price. This was within his rights. HE DID NOT HAVE TO TAKE THE DEAL!

We have a law in this country that is called, “Eminent Domain” that forces people to sell their property.

Illus: The law of Eminent Domain works this way: a person can be forced to sell a piece of land if the county officials decide it is best for the county.

It used to be that this law was used for:

• Building highways

• Building a hospital

But this law has been broadened. Today a land developer can go before a county board get permission to take a piece of property he wants to develop for the good of the community, and build a shopping center or even a housing development, and force the land owner to sell. If the project brings in more revenue the county agrees it is best for the county.

The Supreme Court ruled that governments may force property owners to sell. The 5 to 4 ruling said that for the betterment of the community you might be forced to sell even if you did not want to sell. That ungodly law was not in existence at the time of King Ahab, if it had been Naboth probably would have been forced TO SELL!