1 Kings 20:10-21

Speaker 1: Ms. Tamara. Sure, do appreciate her willingness and ability to sing for us. Of course, it was less than a year ago that Miss Tamara was in ICU with COVID and at times didn't know if she was going to make it. And so we praise the Lord that he was with her even during that trial and has restored her strength and she's able to sing for us here at the Baptist Tabernacle. I take your Bibles if you have them and turn to the Book of First Kings. First Kings chapter number 20 is where we're going to be tonight. And as you find your place, if you wouldn't mind, join me and standing in honor of reading God's word. First Kings chapter number 20. We'll begin reading. In verse number 10. The Bible says. Ben, hate ads sent under him and said. The gods do so under me and more also, if the dust of some area shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. The King of Israel answered and said, tell him. Let not him, that girl is on his harness, boast himself as he put it off. Came to pass when Ben, Hey, Dad heard this message as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions that he said into his servants, set yourselves in array. They set themselves in array against the city. Behold. Came a prophet under Ahab, King of Israel, say. Thus, say at the Lord. Has now seen all this great multitude. Behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day. Thou shalt know that I am the Lord. They have said by whom? He said, let's say it, the Lord, even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, who shall order the battle? He answered now. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces. There were two hundred and thirty two. After them, he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel being seven thousand. They went out at noon. Then, hey, dad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilion's, he and the Kings, the 30 in two kings that helped. The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first. Ben, hey, dad sent out and they told him saying there are men come out of some area. And he said whether they be come out for peace. Take them alive or whether they be come out for war, take them alive. These young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city and the army which followed them, they slew everyone his man. The Syrians fled and Israel pursued them. Ben, hey dad, the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the horsemen. The King of Israel went out and smoked the horses and chariots and flew the Syrians with a great slaughter. Let's pray or we thank you for this day. We thank you for your word. What I asked you to help us now as we look into your words. Give me the words you have me to say. You know, the folks are here to listen while to hear their lies for its in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Thank you. May be seated. Now, as you may or may not have heard, I did martial arts when I was a kid. Oh, you've heard. About the time I turned 12, I started working with the leadership team. My time I was 15. I got my first job teaching martial arts to mostly children. We did like four classes, three class or three year old classes and all the way up to teenagers. There was a lot of fun. We loved it. Absolutely loved it. But every month we would have a belt test where all the kids had completed the requirements could test for their next level, perhaps a new stripe on their belt or a new color belt. But we would do these tests, and once you got to a certain level, part of the test required you to break a board. And if you were an elementary school student, you had to use your feet because the bones in your hands were too weak and were broken very easily. So we didn't let them punch anything they had to kick. And it's always fun. The first time that a kid comes up there and you've got that piece of pine in your hand and you tell him, All right, you're going to put your foot through this. Ellen, a lot of times, especially the little ones, they would look at that piece of wood as if it was a a steel vault door, like you were asking them to punch their hand through a concrete wall or put our kick through a concrete wall. And so they'd be really scared and they'd come up and they would they would kick and they basically, like, set their foot on the board like that isn't going to do anything. You have to kick through the board. And so they'd get up again. And of course, mom and dad, they've got the cameras, they're coming around. They're like, Come on, Johnny, come on, Johnny. And it's the, you know, he he kicks and they go click, Oh, he didn't break it, OK? All right. Come on, Johnny, this time. Click. Oh, I didn't get it. You know, I mean, it's just it was way, way back. Some of you like, what's the? I don't understand. But eventually we realized, OK, this kid is not going to make it through this board. The good thing about these boards is they really are pretty thin when it's just one. And so what we would do as we are holding the board, we would start to apply pressure on that board. And sometimes parents would be like, and that board looked more like a little letter c than a letter I by the time you were done with it because it was pretty curved. So much so that even if that little kid came up there and just set his foot on it, it would go crack. Now, let me ask you when that happens and we're building that board so far and that kid touches it with his pinky toe and it breaks. Who really broke that board? The person holding it. But all we needed for that could do is just try to hit it and they would break, but we could do it, though. It was a lot of fun. And that kid thought he was the biggest thing. They were so excited. They jump up and down. Some of them would even cry. There might have been because the splinters in their feet, but. But we all knew. It wasn't the kid who broke the board. It was the adult that was holding, it was the adult that was applying the pressure. We're to look tonight at a victory that Ahab, yes, that Ahab experienced. And yet as we read yours, you see you, we just read it. You see, they have really had almost nothing to do with the victory that he experienced. It was like the kid touching the board. Yeah, he put his foot out there. Yeah, he made contact with the wood. But it wasn't Ahab who broke that board. It was God. You see, after Ahab has pointed, Ben, hey, dad, we talked last week about him saying, Hey, don't bust yourself like somebody who's taking his armor off when you're putting your armor on. Well, after being, Hey, that gets that message, he is like, You know what? Fine, you're a little pipsqueak. I'm going to show you what thirty three kings and their armies can do to you. Set the soldiers in Iraq. Prepare for battle. And so thirty three kings against one king, you would have to agree that things really don't look good for Ahab. He's basically backed into a corner. He's trapped. The only real option that, humanly speaking, he has before him is to at least put up a fight as he goes down. The best they can hope for is to die with honor. But in from a 13. Something changes all of that. The Bible tells us that a prophet of God comes to Ahab with a message. I always like reading about these unnamed prophets of God. I mean, we love Elijah, don't we? We love Elijah. Who's this? No name, guy. Not important for us to know, but we see what impact he had and how God used him. But here comes this prophet, and he's got a message, a message from the Lord which asks Ahab to start off if he has noticed the great multitude outside the city. Let's say it, the Lord Verse 13 has now seen all this great multitude, and Ahab says no. What multitude? What are you talking about? No, he doesn't. Of course he's seen it. He's seen what's going on outside the city. The point isn't really to discover if he had noticed the army outside of gates. Of course, he had seen the army outside of his gates. The point of asking the question is to point out to Ahab how large a company is out there. Notice, he says. Have you noticed or have you seen this great multitude? Ahab, take a look over the wall. I want you to take a good look at how many people are out there, even though the army that you're facing is great. God's prophet comes in and tells him God is bigger. Even though they're powerful and they're mighty, their forces are experienced, your god is more mighty and more powerful. Profit expresses to Ahab that God intends to deliver this great army into his hands. He says, I will deliver it into thine hand this day. Thou shall know that I am the Lord. Haven't you ever had a day where you wake up and things look pretty crummy, but then God works throughout the day. My time of the day is over and you go to bed, you're like, You know what? That turned out to be a pretty good day. Maybe you've maybe, maybe you've got an appointment to go see your in-laws and you're just dreading it. You know, I know what's going to happen is this is going to be good. Is it going to be bad times or is this good? They're not good. Maybe you've got to go to the doctor and you're worried about what he's going to say. And so you're stressing and you're anxious and you go and he's like, Oh man, you're healthy. You're like, Oh, thank you. Praise the Lord or the dentist. Look, I know I've got cavities. You know, you wake up in a bad mood, you haven't eaten anything in hours because you think if you don't eat anything and you brush your teeth eight times that it'll make whatever cavities you have. Go away. Go to the dentist and he says you get. You think he's joking, you like it? I yeah, you're good. Yes, all of a sudden your day is like 10 times better. OK, so maybe some of you are waking up and you think it's going to be a good day and it turns out being a bad day, is that a little bit better? Ahab then gets up, one gets up that morning thinking, Hey, my life is over, my city is going to be destroyed. I have failed as a king, but then here comes this prophet. And he says by the time this day is over, you're going to be victorious. His day just got 10 times better. You know, we're looking at here. This passage happens to be an example. Of God's grace in the old test. Is he neither Ahab nor Israel deserved to be delivered in this scenario? But God is going to show them undeserved favor for the same reason that he shows anyone undeserved favor. The Bible says at the end of December 13 that God is going to do this. Why? So that thou shall know. The I am the law. Is the Ahab needs to know that your way is the only God? Ahab knows enough by now to at least know that when a prophet of God speaks, he should be viewed as a credible source. It was a hard lesson to learn. Ledger shows up and says there will be no rain for in the land, except for my saying, So what happened? No rain. Why just says, Hey, we're going to have this sacrifice, this contest on Mount Carmel? And you guys call on your God and I'll call on my God. We'll see which one answers who answered. Darwin, Elijah's God, Elijah, comes back and he says, Hey, you better get ready. There's rain coming. What happened? Rain came. Oh, Ahab, starting to learn he may be a slow learner, but he's starting to learn. So Ahab asks the prophet, how exactly is God going to give them the victory over the Syrians? Because let's be honest, you look at the situation. It doesn't look very good. Thirty three to one. Those are not good odds. That's not a fair fight. So how is God going to give us the victory over the hordes of Syrians that are out there? Well, the unnamed prophet details for Ahab, the plan that God will employ. You see, the Syrians were marauders. They were constantly at war with someone. They would kind of do like a clock and they would just go around their their border and fight with everybody that they shared a border, a common border with the one season they'd fight against Israel and one season they'd fight against somebody else. The next season, they'd fight against somebody else. They were battle experienced. They were hardened soldiers. If you're a country that's constantly at war, then you're not fighting with pitchforks in and clubs and stuff. You've probably got a very well equipped army for the battles that you're constantly engaging in if you're constantly at war. It's something you get more and more accustomed to. These are not novices. They had high levels of confidence that the Israelites stood no chance against them. So how is God going to defeat this experienced, confident, well equipped army that sits at their gates? Well, God's got a great plan. It says to Ahab, the prophet does, he says, even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. God plans on defeating these Syrians by sending out Israel's youngest, most inexperienced princes to fight against them. Yeah, I'm thinking that Ahab probably had the same look on his face that you have on yours right now. It doesn't really thrill me. I'm not filled with good feelings about this. Ahab. Asks another question. Who shall order the battle? A profit, it's. Dow. OK. Please try to get this picture in your mind. You've got to fight against these ugly, hairy thugs. Who are we going to send out? Well, we're going to send out a group of men who who aren't even shaving yet. I mean, they're trying to grow it, but it's just so patchy. You might as well shave it off. It's it's just gross. I mean, just be clean cut. I mean, we're going to send these little punks out there. OK. Who's going to lead them? You are Ahab. I mean, you have a reputation, Ahab, of being able to just get the best out of people. You may have have a have a reputation of being a man with courage, man of bravery, a man that that knows how to lead men. Ahab, you're going to lead. This sounds like a real winning strategy. But you know what? Ahab does not protest, at least not in the biblical record. There's nothing that says here that Ahab balked at this. Ahab was unsure what we see here as Ahab says, All right, let's get it done. I'm thinking that perhaps Jezebel was like, I don't know, visiting her family in Sidon or something. So here's Ahab is his free of his. Loving wife. And he's a chameleon. Whoever is around the WHO, he becomes like, there's this prophet saying, this is what we're going to do, this is what God said. God's going to give you the victory and Ahab says, OK. Goes any and he starts to no, the people and no the princes and find out. And verse number 15, there's two hundred and thirty two princes of Israel, all of them young men, Ahab is able to gather together in numbers the Army of Israel that will follow behind them any. He numbers seven thousand. He gets his army together, and the Bible says that day at noon. Ahab and his. Rag tag. A group of teenage soldiers, as they're probably not teenagers, but they're young. They go out, they go out, open the gates of the city. They march out into the sun to face the the armies of Syria. Going out to fulfill God's plan. Well, they're heading towards the Syrian camp, then hey, dad and his kings are sitting in their tents. The Bible says that they're drinking themselves drunk. Drunk. At noon. Even the world would say, man, you got it bad. Drinking yourself drunk and it's only noon. You wait till it's evening or something finally been, hey, dad was a fan of. Jimmy Buffett, you know, he's like, well, it's five o'clock somewhere, I guess. They're drinking to them, the battle's already won, there's really no point worrying about it. One of the servants comes in. Verse number 17. Intel's been hey, dad and the other kings that Israel has sent men out of some area to face the Syrians. Now, he doesn't know whether they're coming out for peace or war. But then, hey, that is so lacking in his mental faculties because of his condition that he really doesn't care. He's not concerned. He doesn't take this seriously. And so he just flippantly, carelessly says, well. If they're coming out for peace now, you're alive. If they're coming out for a war. Take them out alive.

Unidentified: Yeah. This is

Speaker 1: foolishness. It's careless. But it opens up the door for what God is about to do. That's verse number 19. So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city and the army, which followed them. So as the first 20 and a slew everyone, his man. You see you just try to picture this for a second. The prince has come out to Syria. These young men, they've never been in battle before. Perhaps they've got clubs and sticks and any kind of piece of metal they might find. I'm sure some of them have shovels and pick axes and hatchets. I mean, these guys are just they're a motley crew and they are they're coming out and they're serious. They're scared, their muscles are tight and tense. They're they're worried about what's going to happen. They know what's at stake if they lose what happens. So Mary is going to get destroyed. They got everything to lose here. And they're coming out geared up for battle. Here come the Syrians. They've been celebrating and been living high on the hog, uh, pillaging and spoiling the the Israelite countryside. They've been eating all of their food and and just living it, living it up. So they're soft, they're they're fat and happy. I mean, they're they're not taking this serious at all. They've been told, just take these guys alive. And so they come out confident in themselves, and then they see they start to get a glimpse of who's coming after them and maybe they start to laugh to themselves. There's going to be easier than we thought. You remember when we actually fought against real armies, look at this is like the youth group coming out to fight us. Man, were they surprised? Those young men with their crude weapons. Opened up on. That first meeting, if you've watched those movies, you know where the two sides are rushing together and they just slam into each other. Well, imagine one stumbling, one stocking up next to the other one and just running over them. I mean, those Syrians didn't know what hit the one side geared for battle, the other side not taking it seriously when the Israelites started attacking, the Syrians are taken off guard and they they start to flee. The Bible says in verse number 19 that the army comes out verse, or 20 says they slew everyone. His man and the Syrians fled and Israel pursued them. I mean, this is not even a contest. They start striking men down. They're overrunning them. They're chasing them back into the camp and then they're going through camp and just wiping out the Syrian army. Ben, hey, dad in a drunken stupor at least knows enough to get on a horse and get out of there. Hordes of Syria take off fleeing in the face of the young men of Israel. Ahab and his army. Won a great victory that day. Ahab and his army earned a great victory that day. You're not following me, this is sarcasm, no. Ahab and his army received a great victory that day. In addition to liberating the city. They also erased the power of the Syrians. Look at what it says in verse number twenty one. It says in the King of Israel, went out and smoked the horses and chariots and slew the Syrians with the great slaughter. Those horses and chariots represented the the the power of Syria. They lost them that day. Ahab goes out and destroys them. It's like demilitarizing the military equipment that that they had brought with them. He made it so that nobody could use them again. The pastor also says. They won the victory that day with a great slaughter. It's really interesting because we're going to look in the coming weeks at how Syria reacts to this. And it's almost humorous what they try to do. But the amazing thing about this story that we're looking at here tonight is the fact that God gave a victory as miraculous as this to a man like Ahab. How in the world can we reckon with a miraculous victory being granted to a man as wicked and spineless as Ahab? Is there anything in Ahab's life that makes us think that he was deserving of God giving him this victory? Anything? No. If anything. Ahab deserved for God to use Syria as the hammer to crush Israel for their wickedness. That's what they deserve. They deserve for that siege, to tighten and tighten until it choked out the city. God chose to show them favor. Even though they didn't deserve. Favor that you don't deserve. What is that call? Race. Now, this is not just some flippant, capricious display of Grace God spun the roulette wheel and said, All right, who's going to get some grace today? Who is it? Whose aura Israel's give some grace? Now, there is always a purpose behind God's action. What was the purpose for why God granted them this victory, this victory of Grace? Remember, it was because he wanted them to know that he is the lower. The only law. The Israel's got a problem. Their loyalties are splintered between your way. And there. They're trying to hedging their bets here. Maybe God is the true God, so we'll do some serving to him, but maybe bales the true God, let's do some serving to him. God's never been one to want to split the attention of his people. He's a jealous guy. He's holding up. But he's also a gracious guy. You see, Bale had publicly failed over and over again, Bale, the God of the storm, couldn't bring the rain back after God said, I'm turning the faucet off. Bail, the God of the storm, couldn't strike that, that sacrifice with a bolt of lightning and consuming with fire. As he's in effect, he isn't real. And so God wants to show them that he is not just a holy God, he's not just a jealous God, but he is also an effective God. Have you ever tried to work with an ineffective tool in that frustrating? Hunt says I am effective. I don't just sit on the sidelines and watch you guys struggle. I've got a I've got a solution. I've got the power to help you. So he can take a broken man like Ahab. He can take two hundred and thirty two inexperienced young men. He can defeat a confederacy of thirty three kings. He is that power. Do they have deserve it? No. Could those men have won it on their own? No. And have the resources they didn't deserve it, that enemy that they were facing seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. But not to God. Let me ask you this question. If God can. And was willing to do that for Ahab. What could he do in your life? You see a guy who is not only capable of giving Ahab a victory. He was obviously also willing to give a have a victory. You got battles in your life, I'm sure of it. The battles that you face on a daily or weekly basis. Can God give you the victory? Certainly can. Is he willing to give you the victory? Certainly is. Now. Perhaps you think? Well. I'm not a good Christian.

Unidentified: Whatever that means. Right.

Speaker 1: I'm not a good Christian, so God just isn't active in my life. We were talking in Sunday school this morning and talking about hypocrisy. The brother, Zach Tuttle, made the statement, said, you know. The church. We are a building full of broken people. I'm broken. You're broke. We may not be broken in the same places. I've seen before today saying say, and I am not a perfect person, I'm not perfect at anything, I don't think I'm perfect that anything. I know I've got issues. I know I make mistakes. Don't ever look at me and say, Pastor thinks he's got it all together because if he knew the truth, you know, Pastor doesn't think he has it all together. Pastors reminded regularly that he doesn't have it all together. Isn't that true for you? So if I don't have it all together, if I've got a beam sticking out of my eye. Why should I be worried about the speck in your eye? And vice versa. See, we can look at Ahab and say, what a wicked evil, vile man. But it doesn't take too long for me to examine myself to say what an evil, wicked, vile man. You may not be a good Christian. Maybe you look around at other people at church or other people that, you know on social media, or perhaps you look around at other people in your family. And you see things that God is doing for them, and from an outsider's perspective, you think, well, of course God is helping them. They've earned his favor. They go to church. They give I teach a Sunday school class. They're faithful. What you don't understand. But there is no such thing as a good Christian. Any favor that God shows is always undeserved. It's always of grace. You see. How many of you took a nap this afternoon? Anybody. All right, very enthusiastic, yes. You may have failed God 10 times since you woke up from your nap this afternoon. But because of God's grace, he can, and he will give you the victory anyways. I don't know about this, pastor, this sounds an awful lot like that prosperity thing. Name it and claim it, I don't know. Well, if you will just send in your seed money, God, give you the victory. I've got a hankie right here that I've wiped my sweat with, and you can just have that wave it on whatever your problem is and it'll go away. It's obviously not what we're talking about. Just give me a little bit more time. OK. You don't have to be a good Christian. Good in order for God to give you a victory in your life. Ahab wasn't good, was he? You may not have the resources that someone else has. Ahab had two hundred and thirty two young, inexperienced men. Perhaps you sit here tonight and you feel limited by the things you have to offer. You realize that God is never limited. By us. He has never hindered by our limitations. God has never hindered by our limitations, his ability to produce a victory in your life is not dependent on what you have to offer him to use. I'm not a good talker. Neither was Moses. I don't have a lot of money. Neither did the widow. Well, I'm not musical. Yeah, join the club. Well, I've got all this stuff in my background, I've dealt with addictions, I've I've dealt with infidelity, I've dealt with with anger and bitterness and my my speech and I just I've got all these limitations. But God doesn't have those limitations. Maybe you're sitting here tonight and you say, you know what? But, Gary? You don't understand how big my enemy is. Perhaps you're sitting here tonight and you can really relate to Ahab. Do you ever want somebody tell you that you and Ahab have a lot in common, that's that's not a compliment. But maybe you're sitting here thinking, yeah, I know what it's like to have thirty three enemies all lined up waiting to take a shot at me. It seems like everywhere I turn, there's opposition I can't get a break from, from the amount of people who want to overthrow me. May seem like you'll never get past the monster that you're facing. Just like a guy like Ahab received a message from the Lord saying, Hey, look at this great multitude. Look at how big the army is facing you. I'm going to give them into your hand. Do we believe that God can still do that for us? Regardless of the size and the power and the might, the enemy that we're facing, do you believe that God is still greater? It doesn't matter how great or how strong the enemy is, our God is greater.

Unidentified: You said, well, it's great.

Speaker 1: I don't have to be a perfect person, God, to give me the victory. Praise the Lord. And that's great, I'm glad that even though I have limitations, God isn't hindered by my limitations. Praise the Lord, no matter what enemy I face, God is more powerful and God can give me the victory. There's got to be a catch. What is the catch? I wouldn't necessarily say it's a catch. But there is one stipulation that we can garner from this passage. You see, you don't have to deserve a victory. You don't have to have the resources for a victory. You don't have to face a beatable enemy in order to have a victory. All we see from this passage that God required of Ahab in order to give him the victory was that he go out to the battle. Ahab would have never experienced victory if he hadn't gotten out of the city and into the field for the battle. I'd say to you tonight. All God wants from us is to engage the enemy. You see, the victory is up to him. The victory is his to give. He just tells us to get in the fight. That that board that I would hold for those kids, I can put all the pressure that I wanted, but it was not going to do them any good until they kicked it. And once they kicked it, then I could help. To give it the right pressure to give them that, that victory. It's very similar to what you and I face on a daily basis when it comes to our battle with sin and temptation and discouragement and carnality and godlessness. God is sitting there holding the board, he's got all the pressure applied. He's just waiting for you to engage. He'll give you the victory. Ahab never gets the victory if he stays holed up in the confines of the city. You have to get out and get into the battle if you want to experience the victory in the Christian life. I told you before about my aunt who bemoan the fact that she would never win the lottery. My dad asked her, Do you play the lottery? Well, no. Well, then yeah, you're never going to win. I'm not saying you to go out and play the lottery. You can't sit here and say, God's never going to give me the victory when you're not in the battle. No matter the battle that you are facing. Engage in. You dealing with addiction? Engage. Don't just say it's no use. I'll never get the victory. Are you trying to give the victory? No, then you're never going to get the victory. Perhaps you're sitting there saying, you know what? I never see victory in my attempts to evangelize. What attempts to evangelize? Well, you know, I just there's not. I just don't really want to. Put myself out there, I just struggle with rejection. If you don't get out in the battle, you'll never have a victory. Parenting. Engage. Oh, the kids these days. Yeah. Kids these days. Raising kids is always been hard, ask David. Ask David how hard it was. Ask Jacob. How hard it was. Engage. Battles in your marriage. I just. I just don't see how I can stay faithful. Are you trying? Well, no, you know, I'm looking at things and I'm flirting, and I'm I'm sneaking and. Yeah, yeah. You're never going to stay faithful if you're doing all that. Engage. I believe God desires for us to live victorious Christian lives. He did not save your soul and in dwell you with the Holy Spirit so that you could live a defeated life for the rest of your time on this Earth. And you may not deserve the victory, you may not have the resources for the victory and you may be facing a pretty big enemy. But our God is greater. He wants you to have the victory. But they need you. It just. Hit in the back. I don't know what battle you're facing today, but I hope tonight you will commit before the Lord God. When you get in the battle, I'm going to engage, but I need you to give me the victory this Friday, Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. And for the attention of your people. The encouragement that we can get even from the life of a man like Ahab. Or if there's someone here tonight that's facing a battle that they don't know how they're going to get through it. God, I pray that you would. Comfort them with this, this passage and this this record of what you did for Ahab. Lord, that we would know that you are the Lord because of the grace that you have so wonderfully shown to us. Or no matter what the battle is that these people may be facing. Lord, I pray that you would help them to engage the battle they would trust in you. Or now we would see victories in our life. We love you so much. We thank you for all that you do for us, it's in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Let's all stand. We're going to have a song of invitation if God has spoken to your heart.

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