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welcome to everyone for our call to worship you can turn in your Bibles to Psalm 127 Psalm 127 an appropriate psalm in light of the week's events in terms of the ladies giving birth Psalm 127 beginning in verse 1 a song of a sense of Solomon unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain who build it unless the Lord guards the city the watchman stays awake in vain it is vain for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of Sorrows for so he gives his beloved sleep behold children are a heritage from the Lord the fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior so are the children of one's youth happy is the man who has his quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed but you'll speak with their enemies in the gate Amen well please turn in your Trinity hymnal to him number 35 hymn number 35 will stand as we sing together [Music] I'll let us pray our Father in Heaven it's a blessing for us to gather again on this Lord's Day evening it's a blessing to call on you in prayer the psalmist said I love the Lord because he's heard the voice of my supplication we know that you are a God who hears the prayers of his people we know that the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much God we claim no righteousness and our own strength and our own ability but that righteousness of Jesus Christ which has been imputed to us and received by faith alone we rejoice in the mercies and the goodness and the kindness that you've shown to us in the Christian gospel we thank you God that you made your son who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him we thank you for the blessing of the forgiveness of sins for God we are all laid in with sin we all sin by virtue of our place and Adam and we sin with actual transgressions against a holy God so we thank you for the gospel of our salvation we thank you that you have you've dealt with that sin at the cross at Calvary we thank you that Christ stood in our place and there bore the wrath and the punishment of God most high and he took upon himself those stripes those that chastisement that was do for us Lord God how we praise you for that sacrifice for that substitutionary atonement brought out by the son of god on behalf of the elect of God and we pray tonight Lord Most High that we would recall these things and that it would fuel us as we we gather together at the throne of grace to worship you and we pray that it would be in spirit and in truth fill us now with that Holy Spirit and enable us to comply with the scriptures that that call us to render up acceptable worship not acceptable as we perceive it but acceptable to the God of heaven and earth who has commanded his creatures to come to him and we pray tonight Lord God Almighty that you would be merciful to each one in this congregation we all come here we all are weary father we all have various trials and difficulties in our lives certainly as jesus promised in this world you will have tribulation but may you help us to be of good cheer knowing that Christ has indeed overcome the world we pray that tonight the Word of God would find us out the Word of God would be that comfort to our souls that it would feed and sustain us for as our Lord said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God we thank you for the public means of grace we thank you for the opportunity to gather together this one day the Sabbath day we can come out of the world into the house of God and we pray that your word would be that that fuel and that sustenance and that you would send us back into this world further conformed under the image of your son and giving us the Grace and the the zeal and the desire to live for your glory in this world we pray for those who are unconverted those who are dead in their trespasses and sins we pray that your word would find them out we know ultimately Lord God men cannot make themselves live God must speak and God must do that work which is impossible with men and we would pray that tonight sinners would call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ here and elsewhere we pray for your blessing upon other churches in our community those that preach the gospel we pray that you would prosper them that you would bless them that you would encourage them Lord God and that through the efforts of the churches in this community the gospel would go forth and that more and more people in this community would be called out of darkness into marvelous light to proclaim the excellencies the praises of Jesus Christ our Lord we ask that you would forgive us now for our sins and our transgression god we thank you for the promises of forgiveness for those that have believed those that that still struggle with remaining corruption we ask that you would cleanse us now in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that you would help us by the presence and the power of the Spirit to pursue the things that are indeed pleasing in your sight Peter tells us were to grow in the Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we pray to that end that we would bring honor to in this world that we would represent the gospel that our lives would adorn that gospel in a way that is consistent with the Word of God we asked you'd bless the persecuted Church God our hearts are encouraged at the work of God going on throughout the earth as we read this morning in North Korea authorities are reading the Bible so that they can think like believers and try and stop believers God we look forward to these authorities reading these Bibles we know that you are a sovereign God and you make men willing in the day of your power and we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God so we pray that these who take up and read would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we also pray for China and for the the families that we know and love and support their God we see and hear and our caminar find that that their continuing to suffer persecution and increased pressure from the government and the authorities we just pray that you would protect and shield your people that you would cause them to be able to minister the word of truth even in that increasingly volatile situation and God we pray for your blessing to be upon the other churches that we hold dear to our hearts for the Brethren in Surrey the Brethren and Vernon and God we pray that you'd raise up you'd establish more churches here in BC and all throughout Canada we know that you are able to do this Christ as promised that he will build his church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it we pray for the preaching of the gospel and for the salvation of sinners and for their coming together as local churches to bring glory to God Almighty we ask that you would continue with us now and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well please turn with me again in your Trinity hymnals to number 269 hymn number 269 we'll stand as we sing together [Music] well please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Zechariah the Prophet Zechariah were in chapter 6 this evening remember this particular section are the visions that Zechariah received and he passes on to the people in Judah who are engaged in building the temple Haggai and Zechariah are post-exilic prophets along with Malachi but Haggai and Zechariah come after the Babylonian captivity they are men sent by God to encourage those returning from the Exile in this temple building process but beginning in Zechariah chapter 6 at verse 1 we read then I turned and raised my eyes and looked and behold four chariots were coming from between two mountains and the mountains were mountains of bronze with the first chariot were red horses with the second chariot black horses with the third chariot white horses and with the fourth chariot dappled horses strong steeds then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me what are these my lord and the angel answered and said to me these are four spirits of heaven who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth the one with the black horses is going to the north country the white are going after them and the dappled are going toward the south country then the strong steeds went out eager to go that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth and he said go walk to and fro throughout the earth so they walked to and fro throughout the earth and he called to me and spoke to me saying see those who go toward the north country have given rest to my spirit in the North Country then the word of the Lord came to me saying received the gift or received the gift from the captives from hell die to by joy and Judea who have come from Babylon and goat the same day and entered the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah take the silver and gold make an elaborate crown and set it on the head of joshua the son of josedech the high priest then speak to him saying thus says the Lord of Hosts saying behold the man whose name is the branch from his place he shall branch out and he shall build the temple of the Lord yes he shall build the temple of the Lord he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne so he shall be a priest on his throne and the counsel of peace shall be between them both now the elaborate crown shall be for a memorial in the temple of the Lord for hellim Tobiah judea and hen the son of Zephaniah even those from afar shall come and build the temple of the Lord then you shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you and this shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God amen as I said the content of specific context is temple building the second temple the temple after the destruction of the temple by Babylon and here specifically we see one of the purposes for which the temple existed was to point forward to the Lord Jesus Christ and that's who is being prophesied of specifically there in verses 12 and 13 notice behold the man whose name is the branch Christ is identified as the branch by other prophets Jeremiah in particular Christ is the one who will ultimately build the temple of the Lord remember his dealings with the Jews in John chapter 2 he says destroy this temple and in three days I will I will raise it up again well he wasn't talking about the temple made with hands he was talking about the temple of his body the temple built signified dipa fide and pointed forward to the messiah so the biblical trajectory is is that once Messiah comes it is no longer the case that the temple occupies that place of Central sort of prestige in the history of God's people Christ is the one for which the temple stood now that Christ is here we don't go backwards in redemptive history and engage in temple rebuilding that is not the future for the people of God the future for the people of God is Christ himself that blessed description in Revelation 21 and 22 it tells us there's there's no temple there in that New Jerusalem why because God and the lamb are the temple the temple existed temporarily typically and as shadow to point us forward to the Lord Jesus Christ he is the temple builder notice in verse 13 yes he shall build the temple of the Lord he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne so he shall be a priest on his throne a blessed statement isn't it Psalm 110 taught the people of God to look for a king priests Hebrews chapter 7 shows us the connection between Melchizedek and our Lord Jesus Christ he is a king priest he is a royal priest he is the one who sits on his throne he shall be a priest on his throne and the counsel of peace but shall be between them both many have seen that as a reference to the Covenant of redemption between the father and the son to save his people from their sins so the prophets are preaching at this particular time to encourage the people of Israel with reference to their temple building project the greatest encouragement of all is the one that the temple points forward to and it is this branch it is this King priest who will bear the glory well let us pray our Father we thank you for this King priest we thank you that he is the one to whom the the temple ultimately pointed and how we praise you that he he is that altogether lovely and chief among 10,000 how we thank you that he is the one who has has repaired the breach that existed between God and sinners it's in him that we have peace it's in him that we have reconciliation it's in him ultimately that we have God as our God and the fact that we are his people we thank you for your scriptures we thank you for their consistent testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and we praise you in his most blessed name Amen well please turn with me for our final him before the preaching to 224 hymn number 224 again we'll stand as we sing together [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we could turn in your Bibles to first Kings chapter 22 I figure we'll finish the Ahab story last week we looked at a Habs confiscation by way of murder of Namath's vineyard in first Kings chapter 21 so we'll read first Kings chapter 22 verses 1 to 28 and then God willing take up the latter part next Sunday evening but beginning in 1st Kings 22 at verse 1 now three years passed without war between Syria and Israel then it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went down to visit the king of Israel and the king of Israel said to his servants do you know that ramoth and Gilead is ours but we hesitate to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria so he said that Jehoshaphat will you go with me to fight at ramoth-gilead Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel I am as you are my people as your people my horses as your horses also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel please inquire for the word of the Lord today then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together about four hundred men and said to them shall I go against ramoth-gilead to fight or shall I refrain so they said go up for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king and Joshua fat said is there not still a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him so the king of Israel said to John Jehoshaphat there is still one man Makia the son of in-law by whom we may inquire of the Lord but I hate him because he does not prophesy good concerning me but evil and Jehoshaphat said let not the king say such things then the king of Israel called an officer and said bring my calf the son of imlah quickly the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah having put on their robes sat each on his throne at a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria and all the prophets prophesied before the now Zedekiah the son of cainan ah had made horns of iron for himself and he said thus says the Lord with these you shall Gore the Syrians until they are destroyed and all the prophets prophesied so saying go up to ramoth-gilead and prosper for the Lord will deliver it into the Kings hand then the messenger who had gone to call my chaos spoke to him saying now listen the words of the prophets with one Accord encouraged the king please let your word be like the word of one of them and speak encouragement and my chaos said as the Lord lives whatever the Lord says to me that I will speak then he came to the king the king said to him Mikhail shall we go to war against ramoth-gilead or shall we refrain and he answered him go and prosper for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the King so the king said to him how many times shall they make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord then he said I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd and the Lord said these have no master let each return to his house in peace and the king of Israel said to Joshua fat did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil and my chaos said therefore hear the word of the Lord I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing by on his right hand and on his left and the Lord said who will persuade Ahab to go up that he may fall at ramoth-gilead so one spoke in this manner and then and another spoke in that manner then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said I will persuade him the Lord said to him and in what way so he said I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets and the Lord said you shall persuade him and also prevail go out and do so therefore look the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours and the Lord has declared disaster again now Zedekiah the son of cainan ah went near and struck my kia on the cheek and said which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you and my chaos at indeed you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide so the king of Israel said take my cab and return him to a nun's the the governor of the city and to joash the king's son and say thus says the king but this fellow in prison and feed him with the bread of affliction and water of affliction until I come in peace but my chaos said if you ever return in peace the Lord is not spoken by me he said take heed all you people amen let us pray father thank you for the written word and I pray that now the spirit would guide us in our study of that word and help us to see the importance of that word in this chapter give us grace Lord God to have ears to hear and not to sort of pick and choose from the Bible what it is that we want and the things that we don't want give us grace to be submissive subordinate to that blessed word of truth that authoritative word it comes from the mouth of God Most High forgive us again for our transgressions and our sins supplied to us now the Holy Spirit to aid us and to direct us and to guide us and we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen well remember that last week when we looked at first Kings chapter 21 I mentioned that a hab was a notoriously bad King Ahab was a man according to first Kings chapter 16 that thought it wasn't enough to send the sins of jeroboam the son of me back up until this point Jeroboam the son of Nebat is sort of a benchmark standard of wickedness in terms of Kingdom and when JA a hab comes along he engages in gross idolatry he marries Jezebel that that woman of the year the one who comes from the sidonians he marries her he turns his heart to bale worship and then he even built an altar to bail in the northern kingdom in Sumeria he has a go around with Elijah the prophet in first Kings chapter 18 in first Kings chapter 20 he is victorious over the Syrians God commanded however that he spare not the life of been a dad the king of the Syrians but he did he called him my brother he made a treaty of peace with them and he allowed ben-hadad to live the Prophet comes could have been my kaya the prophet and told him that the end is coming in first Kings chapter 21 he does confiscate the the vineyard of naboth by having maybethe murder will elijah the tishbite comes and prophesize against him that he will die and so we have in 1st Kings 22 the record of his death it comes later on in the chapter but I think his dealings with the true prophet of God is very instructive for the church today I think there might be a little bit of a gap in each and every one of us there are times when the Word of God comes to us and we may not like it we may come to the Word of God we may be looking for a particular situation or a particular issue and it might bristle against us because God demands one thing and we're not so far willing to comply in that particular area fact the Apostle Paul has what I would say is a parallel passage to this particular interaction between 1/2 and mycale it's found in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 the Apostle tells Timothy preach the word be ready in season and out of season convince rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and teaching and then Paul gives Timothy two reasons why Timothy is to preach the word the second reason is that Paul is about to die so Paul wants the men that he has passed the baton to to faithfully preached the word but the first reason that he gives Timothy is the time will come when they the Church of Jesus Christ or professing church of Jesus Christ will not endure sound doctrine rather they will find teachers that will tickle their ears they will find teachers that tell them what they want to say that is precisely what here in first Kings 22 so I want to look at this section under two considerations first the alliance between Israel and Judah in verses 1 to 12 and then secondly the rejection of the true prophet of God in verses 13 to 28 but let's look first at this alliance between Israel and Judah remember back in first Kings 12 if you weren't ever school in this it's not remembering time it's beginning to know time in first Kings chapter 12 the Kingdom of Israel was spit split into the Kingdom of Israel was divided you had a northern kingdom referred to as Israel and then you had a southern kingdom referred to as Judah now these kingdoms coexisted side-by-side and oftentimes were engaged in war among themselves civil war in fact Jehoshaphat is to be commended the Jehoshaphat that's mentioned in our passage here is the king of the southern kingdom and a-hat is the king of the northern kingdom so AI wants to elicit Jehoshaphat and his troops as they go and try to liberate ramoth-gilead from Syrian occupation but after - with reference to these particular Kings you only had bad kings in the north you had some good kings in the south but for the most part both of them ended under the judgment of God Most High so let's look here specifically now at verse one it says now three years passed without war between Syria and Israel now that goes back to chapter 20 don't want to confuse everybody too much but it's important that we get the lay of the land in first Kings 20 as I said Israel defeats Syria the Syrians then say let's cast ourselves upon their mercy there are people with a merciful God there are people that actually deal in mercy so we'll cast ourselves upon them for their mercy they do that and it works and Ahab scares ben-hadad and so they had made this treaty they had made this peaceful arrangement but obviously now been a dad is reneging on his particular a part of the because they are occupying ramoth-gilead and this is a concern to am notice in verse two then it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went down to visit the king of Israel again there had been civil war between the North and the South in Israel not in America we're not in the eighteen hundreds but rather there was this Civil War and so jehosophat's desire to have unity among these two kingdoms was very noteworthy it's very commendable however what he does in this particular section is not very wise in fact Ralph Davis makes the observation Jehoshaphat scored high in piety but low in sex he didn't always make the wisest and best decisions later on in this chapter you'll get a description of Jehoshaphat and he was a godly man he did good things within his time of kingship over Judah so this man Ahab now wants to engage an alliance with the Judah Heights so that they can liberate ramoth-gilead notice in verse three the king of Israel said to his servants do you know that ramoth and Gilead is ours but we hesitate to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria so he said to Jehoshaphat will you go with me to fight at ramoth-gilead it's a very important trade route it was a very important place strategically and economically so of course they wanted Rahab Gilead gift ramoth-gilead back now notice Jehoshaphat's response he wants prophetic guidance for this particular Alliance again he's a godly man when it gets to his description later on in this particular chapter Jehoshaphat gets thumbs up he's a pious man he's a godly man again lacking in some sense going into this particular Alliance with Abe but nevertheless it's his request that we seek prophetic alliance that doesn't come from a gab it comes from Jehoshaphat and that's what we have to direct our attention to now in verses 5 to 12 he requests this verse 5 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel please inquire for the word of today now in verses six to nine you have this gathering of prophets now first kings 18 when Elijah meets a a hab and ultimately ends up on Mount Carmel we read of two sets of prophets there are 450 prophets of Bale and 400 prophets of Asherah but all of them sit at Jezebel's table now for those of you who don't understand that terminology that means they were on the government payroll they were court prophets they were being fed they were being subsidized they were being given a living by a hab and Jezebel this is how bad Israel is at this particular time 450 prophets of Bale 400 prophets of Asherah are on the payroll they are recognized government employees they are the sorts of people with tenure these are the sorts of people you can't fire these are the sorts of people that get benefits they get money they get retirement they get a whole host of things and so 450 of them died on that day when they met the true and living God that Elijah had preached but there's still these 400 prophets there's still these 400 prophets that serve the goddess Asherah and that's probably who these prophets are that come now to encourage a hab on a fool's errand notice the word of these prophets in verse 60 of verse 6 the king of Israel gathered the prophets together about four hundred men and said to them shall I go against ramoth-gilead to fight or shall I refrain notice their answer it's really ambiguous I mean I think they are trying to assure the king I think they are trying to encourage the gang but their response is kind of like a fortune cookie you read a fortune cookie and it says everything will be okay today what does that mean I don't understand look at the way they respond they said go up for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king okay which what what King well you want to make this a little bit clearer I think that's the nature of false prophecy it's a nature of fortune-telling it's very ambiguous it's it's very vague the true prophet of God speaks specifically concerning details Makia tells Zedekiah that you're going to ultimately run and hide you're going to find an inner room the way Ben Hadad did and run and hide when the battle starts you see vagary and and ambit ambiguity is is key to the prophetic the false prophetic ministry and that's what I think we have in this particular instance but but nevertheless they have interprets it as a victory or as a win for him now no Jehoshaphat suspicions in verse seven this is really good because josh a fat maybe smelled something fishy it's all too tidy it's all too perfect four hundred men every single one of them say yeah go ahead go into battle because God's going to deliver it to the king today every single one notice in verse seven Jehoshaphat said it's that that there's still not a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him when there should be some divergent opinion maybe there should be some debate maybe there should be some opposition maybe maybe we should have you know a little bit from the floor to make sure that everything is good before we march into battle at ramoth-gilead now notice with reference to the hated prophet verses 8 and 9 so the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat there is still one man Mike Ayotte the son of imlah by whom we may inquire of the Lord but I hate it because he does not prophesy good concerning me but evil again maybe you don't have any have in you maybe you don't share any affinity whatsoever with AF but the fact that Paul wrote 2nd Timothy chapter 4 seems to envisage that some professing Christians might have something in common what they have I hate him he never prophesized good for me how do we explain the the success of joel osteen explain the success of the health wealth and prosperity preachers they never tell anybody anything that's hard they never tell anybody anything that's difficult they never tell anything any but anything to anybody that is going to to make them bristle it's all health wealth and prosperity we can understand at a certain fundamental level why they're so popular it's the men like my Kia that make people upset it's the men like the Apostle Paul that make people upset it's the men like John Knox hanging over his pulpit putting his finger into the face of Mary telling her that she needs to repent and forsake her wickedness it's those kinds of people that upset the garden-variety person in the pew a hab is alive and well if 2nd Timothy 4 is to be trusted the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but rather they will gather up for themselves teachers that will scratch their ears teachers that will tell them what they want to hear teachers like these 400 prophets of Asherah represented by Zedekiah all of his theatrics notwithstanding he is a liar and a cheat and a deceived it is Mike aya who is telling the truth now notice specifically verse 8 at the end Jehoshaphat said let not the King say such things and then in verse 9 we read then the king of Israel called an officer and said bring my k'i the son of imlah quickly now I want you to notice something verses 10 to 12 and verses 19 to 23 they're both what we call throne seeds they're scenes that occur before a throne in verses 10 to 12 it's a throne occupied by a hab and Joshua back in nineteen 223 it's the throne of Yahweh himself so you need to sort of see how this binds the narrative together but here particularly in this throne seat notice in verses 10 to 12 we have the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah having put on their robes they sat each on thrown and a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria and all the prophets prophesied before that now Zedekiah the son of Cana Anna Pat made horns of iron for himself and he said thus says the Lord with these you shall Gore the Syrians until they are destroyed now that's not uncommon even the true prophets of God at times engaged in what's called an acted parable they would engage in those sorts of things that would would visibly demonstrate the reality of what they were prophesied so it's not making the iron horns and putting them on his head that's a problem other prophets true prophets do that the problem is is that he's lying the problem is is that he's a faith the problem is is that he's a cheat the problem is is that he is deceitful and that is Zedekiah's problem now notice in verse 12 and all the prophets prophesied so say go up to ramoth-gilead and prosper for the Lord will deliver it into the Kings hand so just here we need to stop for a moment and consider the folly of a.m. he is willing to listen to lies if he likes those lies we'll learn that he hates the the reality the truth that my care speaks because he doesn't like it you see there is this mindset among a hub at least and according to Paul in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 that that would seem to imply or we can infer from that that people will treat the Word of God as what they like or what they don't like that's not our prerogative there might be things in scripture that you don't necessarily like say you're a thief and God's Word says don't steal say you're covetous and God's Word says don't covet say you're a gossip and God's Word says don't gossip say you're a fornicator God's Word says don't fornicate you see it's not about what we like it's about what is true is that what is wound up to make me feel good but what is calculated to promote good in my own life and heart it's a it's a strange thing that men will embrace the false because it's a message that they want to hear while rejecting the truth because it's a message they don't want to hear we need to retrain our minds we need to thank God for his massive we need to praise God for the truth and we need to receive it whether it's something we want to hear or whether it's something we don't want to hear but desperately need to hear now let's look at the rejection of the true prophet of God in verses 13 to 28 notice the pressure on the prophet in verse 13 Micah doesn't have an easy job here he's in a lose-lose situation and my Keun knows it John Gill supposes that he is the prophet mentioned in chapter 20 the fact that my quea they knew where to find him might indicate that he was already in jail the fact that he was readily at hand may suggest that he was the prophet that already spoke to Ahab and told him the end was coming they have didn't like it then so he imprisoned in that now it may have been a different prophet but I think there's some merit to that particular theory notice in verse 13 what the servant says to eya to my ki then the messenger who had gone to call my chaos spoke to him saying now listen words of the prophets with one Accord encouraged the king please let your word be like the word of one of them and speak encouragement what a worm huh what a terrible person he serves to my care you know when the King gets mad it's kind of a bummer when the King gets messages he doesn't like he kind of flips out he gets sullen he gets displeased we already see that in chapters 21 and in chapter 20 I mean he's kind of guy that you know when he's in a grumpy mood you know when he's having a down day you can see that spirit of melancholy all over himself so so please encourage him with those other 400 prophets just tell him what he wants to hear my data we don't really care whether it's true or not we just want the to be happy again I think this mindset is rampant at least according to Paul in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine you get people telling pastors are suggesting to preachers you know you might want to tone it down a little bit and the way that you say certain things that it makes people feel a little bit uncomfortable it it makes people feel a little bit awkward it it really doesn't make people want to come after their their Wheaties on Sunday morning and sit amongst you it really is a bit offensive and you should tone it down you should smile like Joel Osteen you should have hair like Joel Osteen you should have teeth like Joel Osteen no we should preach two words what happened to that what happened to preach the word be ready in season and out of season convinced rebuke exhort that's what this messenger is saying now listen the words of the prophets with one Accord encouraged the king is he suggesting truth is democratic we already saw that blasted out of the water in 1st Kings 18 at Mount Carmel truth is not democratic 450 prophets of Bale said that Bale was God 450 prophets against the one prophet Elijah the Tishbite see we could never say well that particular religion has this many of the areas we wonder perhaps if they're true maybe they're onto something no true is true it doesn't matter how many people adhere to it it doesn't matter how few people in here to it true is true that's what we need to keep in mind so he's notching Makia and he say tell him what he wants to hear now mike is words in verse 14 ought to be printed on the mind and heart of every one of God's pastors or preachers and every one of God's people my case said verse 14 as the Lord lives whatever the Lord says to me that I will speak that's it whatever the Lord says to me that I will speak listen to Davis Davis says my care has just nailed something which neither a abnormal look back at a Habs words in verse eight and the messengers in verse 13 what do both assume about the word of Yahweh they assume that the Prophet controls or can control that word this is a problem they assume that the Prophet controls or can control that word how does David describe the word of Yahweh in Psalm 29 it crushes the voice of Yahweh crushes the Cedars of Lebanon there's no creature that tames that word there's no creature that control word there's no creature that can can and can change or modify that word he goes on to say a Hobbes remark and verse 8 implies that my k'i didn't have to be such a purveyor of doom saying anti a happy Anat sentiment if he wanted to he could speak a kinder gentler word the messenger assumes that Makia could agree with the prophetic caucus if only he would they do not understand my chaos position which he states in verse 14 he is in bondage to the Word of God hence the Word of God is free and cannot be manipulated by kings or messengers or even slick prophets whatever word Yahweh gives a prophet that is what the Prophet must speak the Prophet is not at liberty to massage or shape or Bend let alone pervert that word that's what Micah says in verse 14 now notice the true prophet and the king the first interchange in verses 15 to 16 now you need to understand something about my gaya in verse 15 his response is utter sarcasm if you think well prophets shouldn't do that remember Elijah on Mount Carmel when he mocks the prophets of bale but where's your God maybe he's sleeping maybe he's relieving himself little maybe he's in the bathroom Elisha is you know slapping his knee while he's mocking these people and he's laughing how about the profit greater than Elijah when he says to the Pharisees you know you strain out the gnat and you swallow the camel brethren people smiled when they heard Jesus say that because it's funny it really is funny it's a wonderful word picture most kids laugh adults feel I wish can't laugh Jesus said something funny we should laugh well my Cara is being sarcastic notice in verse 15 so the King I'm sorry verse 15 then the King he came to the king and the king said to him Mike gaya' so we go to war against ramoth-gilead or shall we refrain and he answered him go and prosper for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king that's just utter sarcasm he doesn't say thus saith the Lord he just says God what does this indicate and I think what what a hab says to him indicates this isn't their first rodeo Mike and knows the drill he tells they have what God wants a hab to know a hab utterly reject what my chaos says and on they go and so what he does here he engages in sarcasm what John Gill explained he answered not in the name the Lord saying thus saith the Lord nor did he speak his own sense and in his own words nor seriously but by way of derision he took up the words of the prophets and bantered them but he delivered the above words with such gestures in such a tone and with a contemptuous smile in his countenance which showed that he spoke not seriously but sarcastically and this the King plainly discovered as appears by what follows notice the response of a hab in verse 16 so the king said to him how many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord that indicates that his response in verse 15 was sarcastic this wasn't their first rodeo my kin knows the drill so my kin says okay just what all the other prophets said go ahead go prosper and my mouth everything's gonna be wonderful and Ahab gets angry he doesn't like his sarcasm now notice we come to his particular work verse 17 then he said I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains a sheep that have no Shepherd and the Lord said these have no master let each return to his house in peace this is the true word of the Lord this is the prophetic statement this is what's going to happen at ramoth-gilead the reference to Israel will be like sheep having no Shepherd means that Ahab's going to die in battle they have you're gonna lose what's my chaos saying these four hundred people are lying to you Zedekiah sehorne's notwithstanding these men are lying to you they're fake they're false they're deceivers you are not going to win at ramoth-gilead you're not going to liberate it from Syrian stronghold but rather you're going to die on the field of battle and then notice the biting sarcasm at the end of verse 17 he says these have no master let each return to his house in peace what's he saying they have when you're dead Israel will have peace yep when you die on the field of battle when that random arrow finds its mark in your heart the the people of Israel are going to have peace they don't have peace now while you're the king they don't have peace while you have Jezebel sitting with you on the throne they don't have peace while you have bail worship going on in the northern kingdom they don't have peace when the throne is that corrupt but when you're dead Ahab there's going to be peace in Israel now notice in verse 18 the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil but that's the worst response in the world isn't it he should say oh wow my care thank you for that that nugget thank you for that warning thank you for that that realization thank you for that reality check no he nudges Jehoshaphat and say you see why I hate him you see why I just you see why I can't stand him because he doesn't fall in rank with all those false prophets and tell me what I want to hear it was infuriating to Ahab now note that second throne room now this is a tough bit of Scripture I'm not going to answer all your questions as to what is going on here in verses 19 to 23 it is a tough bit of Scripture let's just read it verse 19 then Micah said therefore hear the word of the Lord I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing by on his right hand and on his left and the Lord said who will persuade Ahab to go up that he may fall at ramoth-gilead 2:1 spoke in this manner and another spoke in that manner then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said I I will persuade him the Lord said to him in what way so he said I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets and the Lord said you shall persuade him and also prevail go out and do so therefore look the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours and the Lord has declared disaster against you now the first thing we need to sort of unpack here is what's happening does God actually interact with angelic beings seeking their counsel seeking their input evaluating the data before him and then casting his vote on that which makes the most sense to him that's not what's going on the text is speaking to us in the manner of man it is accommodating this decision for us on earth Matthew pool I think has the best explanation he says this is not to be grossly understood as if God did ask it take counsel from his creatures or were at a loss to find out an expedient to accomplish his own will did consider several ways and then close with that which upon debate appeared to be the best all which it is ridiculous to imagine concerning a God of perfect and infinite knowledge but only to bring down divine things to our shallow capacities if you get that you're gonna understand the doctor the divine you're gonna get you know the the vistas will open up and you'll say wow I understand an aspect of theology proper I hadn't before God but what he says is right it's in the manner of men that he speaks to us but only to bring down divine things to our shallow capacities and to express the various means which God has to execute his own designs matthew henry says this matter is here represented after the manner of man now what is happening in this throne room scene first the vision denounces the false prophets it's sort of a theological rationale behind false prophecy it's the theological explanation for the fact that there's these four hundred men Zedekiah with his horns telling ahab a lie this is the theological rationale secondly the vision declares the will of God some suggest that God is lying according to this throne room scene how could it possibly be thought that God is lying when God is telling am through my care the Prophet the exact truth about what's going to happen at ramoth-gilead God is not lying and then finally this scene demonstrates the absolute unrivaled an unparalleled sovereignty of God Most High nothing happens on this earth apart from God nothing happens on this earth apart from his rule nothing happens on this earth apart from his government and that's what this throne ring room scene indicates now notice finally the Prophet and his punishment Zedekiah verse 24 or now Zedekiah the son of canaan and off went near and struck my kia on the cheek and said which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you and is this a common response he smacks him on the face because he told him the truth and now what happens he's in prison verse 26 I'm sorry verse 25 and yks said indeed you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide so the king of Israel said in verse 26 take my can't return to amon the governor and of the city and to joash the king's son and say thus says the king put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction until I come in peace and then the final thing that we need to appreciate verse 28 is that the prophet affirms his veracity the prophet affirms his truthfulness and this is important for us to understand he affirms his truthfulness in the way that you affirmed the truth of the Prophet butts to Tirana me 18 to us in terms of testing a prophet the prophet makes a prediction and it doesn't come true guess what he was a false prophet the penalty is death if you say I'm gonna speak for God I'm gonna prophesy something that's going to take place and then it doesn't take place and I'm found to be a fake then according to the law in Israel I should be stoned now what happens when that prophecy comes true well then you know the prophet of God is the real deal that's precisely how my Kia handles this notice in verse 25 and my case said indeed you shall see that's the way the Prophet underscores his veracity you shall see I'm not blowing smoke here Zedekiah I'm not making this up you shall see that's the task of a prophets veracity verse 28 he does the same thing but my kid said if you ever return in peace the Lord has not spoken by me and he said take heed all you people you see a lot of people in the history of the church have made prophetic statements a lot of people have claimed to have the gift of prophecy a lot of people have said such and such is going to happen on such-and-such a day and it never ever happens thankfully the church doesn't execute these people for their benefit but that happens they say believe me buy my book listen to my tape hear my sermons do what I think and do what I say and and change your life remember what happened several years ago Harold Camping he was the one that said oh the Lord Jesus is gonna return first it was 1994 it didn't happen and then I forget the date was the 2016 2014 somewhere around there he had predicted was does anybody remember it was in that timeframe 2012 maybe but but he predicted that the world was going to act he wasn't a dispensationalist which was very interesting he was a normal analyst but he was driven to this position by his understanding of mathematics and in the Bible and whatnot he's a false prophet you see Mike heah says if a have returns if a hub doesn't die in ramoth-gilead then the Lord hasn't hasn't spoken by me that's a that's the way to to determine whether or not a prophet is true he doesn't affirm his veracity by making a claim to inspiration or by saying the Lord spoke to him or by assuming an authoritative tone he basically says wait and see and once you see then you'll know that I am true Davis again says my can't willingly submits himself to the prophetic desk if a prophet speaks in Yahweh's name and the prediction does not come to pass Yahweh has not spoken by that prophet and so he puts his money where his mouth is and he ultimately ends by saying take heed all you people Oh brethren as I said at the outset I think there's some parallel with reference to Paul's words in 2nd Timothy 4 I just want to draw out a few lessons and then we'll close first of all the rejection of the true prophet of God here the rejection of the true prophet of God is ultimately the rejection of the Word of God himself and this manifests itself here first in the desire to only hear what we want to hear the desire to only hear what we want to hear what's the purpose of Paul in 2nd Timothy 4 before he says the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine Paul says with reference to preaching he tells Timothy not only not only gives Timothy a command preach the word but he specifies how if he is to preach the word now put his hands in his pocket and have fireside chats he is to convince in other words don't let people wriggle out from what the truth of God's Word really says convince them that what you're saying is true through accurate exegesis through proper hermeneutics through comparing Scripture with Scripture convinced that rebuke them why because all of us stand in need of rebuke the idea that I don't want to go hear that because it might make me feel bad brethren we all need a great big dose of feeling back once in a while so that we will repent and forsake the wickedness that we find ourselves doing convinced rebuke exhort the people have got ought to be about doing the things of God exhortation seats by the grace of God to move the will of men I told people in our Saturday morning study yesterday all preaching includes teaching but not all teaching is preaching preaching has that added dimension where it's not just enough to present information but it's a call to people to act upon that information it's a call to the unsaved to flee to Jesus Christ it's a call to the save to put off their sin and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ we are not privy to just hear what we want to hear we need to be convinced we need to be rebuked we need to be exhorted as well the desire to encourage the Prophet to speak what we want to hear I mean Ahab's a rat she's terrible but at least he's honest he says to Joshua that I don't like him because he doesn't tell me what I want to hear the guy in 13 is just a worm he comes to my kid he says don't tell him stuff he doesn't want to hear tell him what's encouraging to him again not applauding Ahab but at least the guy to some degree is honest I hate him because he tells me the truth the guy in verse 13 trying to exercise pressure on the Prophet so that the Prophet will will tailor the message to fit his audience that is reprehensible and that is happening in the church today the desire to listen to false prophets who tell us what we want to hear boy you need to come and listen to this guy it's such a positive and uplifting message I'd like to think that biblical preaching is ultimately a positive and uplifting message but before we are positively uplifted there are times we need to be first cast down we need law so that the gospel comes as that balm of Gilead there is a biblical precedence for this kind of preaching and when we find that our hearts are drawn only to people that tell us what we want to hear we have fallen into this sin of Ahab and the desire to be rid of the true prophets of God through physical violence verse 24 through imprisonment verses 26 and 27 now secondly the integrity of the true prophet of God he is committed to speaking whatever the Lord says he is committed to speaking whatever the Lord says not whatever they have once but whatever the Lord says he is committed to speaking whatever the Lord says not what the church wants that there's a disconnect there right we preach what God's Word says we don't preach what God's people want your kids may want cake for dinner but you know that steak or meat or some other protein sources far better for them than a hunk of cake your kids may want cake instead of broccoli your kids may want cake instead of brussel sprouts but you as a wise parent don't let them call the shots God is a wise parent and he knows precisely what we need he doesn't say cake cake cake every Sunday that you come in positive and uplifting oftentimes comes after the law has done its work in our hearts as well he is speaking are committed rather to speaking the truth of God not catering to the felt needs of his errors verse 13 my ka doesn't say you know messenger you've got a point I don't want to upset a have I've seen him so on and displeased I don't want to be on I am today so I'm gonna tell him what he wants to hear all be the four hundred and first profit and I will emphasize that what Zedekiah did with the horns is actually going to take he doesn't care about that he is not going to be manipulated to tell lies thirdly he is committed to speaking the truth not withstanding the pressure to do otherwise I said at the very beginning my ki had a very difficult batch here a happy hates him my ka knows this the messengers trying to cajole him into twisting the masa all of this is pressure upon the Prophet the fact that he remains faithful is the model for men today and then notice he is committed to suffering physical violence imprisonment and even death itself instead of compromising the truth of God beautiful thing isn't it this kind of stuff we need in preachers today and then I would suggest thirdly the measure of the people of God see Ahab there might be as I said a little Ahab in all of us we might want to gravitate towards default because we like it and we might want to resist the true because we don't like it we need to guard our hearts brethren we need to watch our souls we need to be a people that hear the word of God that received the Word of God that is seeing the Word of God and that prize the Word of God the Prophet Amos condemned the nation of his day or the nation in his day and he promised them that if they did not repent there would be a fair man not a famine for food not a famine for water with a famine for hearing the Word of God and then final observation is I want us all to appreciate the continuing mercy of God the continuing mercy of God what is God doing here he still sends the true prophet I was talking to a brother this morning after the sermon on abortion and the thought the thought of abortion the thought of euthanasia the thought of all that all that that innocent judicially innocent blood in the ground crying out to God Almighty the way the blood of Abel cries out according to the book of Genesis you ever just think that the goddess is furious with Canada do you ever just think that God is going to lash out and judge against the people that really don't regard life at all where life has become disposable where life is just you know if it's inconvenient to us we dispose of it does that ever cause you a bit of fright or a little bit of fear a little bit of trembling if you ever reflect on on numbers the end of numbers either 35 or 36 dot the Lord tells the nation of Israel that the only way to deal with bloodshed and murder is through capital punishment God doesn't accept a ransom God doesn't accept a price God doesn't accept sacrifice when it comes to the crime of murder the only thing that will requite that is the blood of the guilty if you ponder that for just a moment you'll cry with the Prophet Habakkuk in Wrath remember mercy in wrath remember mercy well I want to suggest that that's a legitimate prayer for our generation because God still sends my Kay up to a hub a hub is a ratchet a AB is horrible a hub is terrible it's already been prophesied that he's going to die and yet God in His mercy sends my chaotic we look at Canada filled with blood guiltiness there are still pulpit preaching the truth that's indicative of the fact that God is a merciful God that's indicative of the fact that we can cry to him in light of that unrequited blood in Wrath please remember mercy every Minister preaching the truth in every pulpit in Canada underscores the continuing mercy of God the way that Makia does even right up until the end of this wretched King Ahab God is about mercy God is about kindness God is about goodness yes he is wrathful yes there is judgment yes he is right says yes he will by all means punish the guilty the Brethren he is long-suffering and in first kings 20:2 makea is proof positive that God the Lord is long-suffering if you have not made your peace with this God go flee run hide find your refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ and that through faith in Him it's not by works it's not by performance it's not by moral reform it's not by getting a little bit better stopping this particular habit adding a little bit of this to my to my life so that I have some virtue to commend myself to God nothing we do will commend ourselves to God all our righteousness are like filthy rags the Prophet says now think about that for just a moment our righteousnesses are like filthy rags the sacrifices that Israel brought out and presented to God the fasting that Israel brought out and presented to God the Sabbath keeping that Israel brought up and brought to God the temple worship that Israel brought out and brought to God they're very righteousness was like filthy rags in the sight of God it's the same for us today you read in your Bible you pray you doing this you doing that all of it without price is like filthy rags the way of salvation is not moral reform the way of salvation is not like adding a little virtue to your life the way of salvation is not by ending a bad habit the way of salvation is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ his precious blood cleanses us from all sin believe on him God is merciful God shows it with the prophet Micah God is showing it presently all throughout this nation wherever there are men actually preaching the truth of God you have every warrant to believe that God is merciful you have every warrant to come to our Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness for salvation well let us pray father we thank you for your word we thank you for this this scene and a Habs life near the end that so so so closely para what Paul says in second Timothy chapter four we confess with Solomon there is nothing new Under the Sun and I pray that you would guard us from being the types of people that seek out preachers that that we only to tell us things that we want to hear help us God to appreciate to hear the things that we need to hear you know what is best for us you know what is good for us and we pray that you would give it to us and help us to be willing compliant and receptive to the truth of your Holy Word raise up more men men of the the stripe of Makia men that will preach in the face of opposition men that will fit a preach in the face of manipulation all these things Lord God and send them forth to glorify your Holy Name we pray that you'd go with us now bless us in this coming week and help us to honor you and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be this mess you